Thursday, 16 October 2014

FFF152 - BLUEBERRY FLOWERS

Blueberries are perennial flowering plants with indigo-colored berries from the section Cyanococcus within the genus Vaccinium (a genus that also includes cranberries and bilberries). Species in the section Cyanococcus are the most common fruits sold as "blueberries" and are native to North America (commercially cultivated highbush blueberries were not introduced into Europe until the 1930s).

Blueberries are usually erect. Prostrate shrubs can vary in size from 10 centimeters to 4 meters in height. In the commercial production of blueberries, the smaller species are known as "low-bush blueberries" (synonymous with "wild"), while the larger species are known as "high-bush blueberries". The leaves can be either deciduous or evergreen, ovate to lanceolate, and 1–8 cm long and 0.5–3.5 cm broad.

The flowers are bell-shaped, white, pale pink or red, sometimes tinged greenish. The fruit is a berry 5–16 millimeters in diameter with a flared crown at the end; they are pale greenish at first, then reddish-purple, and finally dark purple when ripe. They are covered in a protective coating of powdery epicuticular wax, colloquially known as the "bloom". They have a sweet taste when mature, with variable acidity. Blueberry bushes typically bear fruit in the middle of the growing season: Fruiting times are affected by local conditions such as altitude and latitude, so the peak of the crop can vary from May to August depending upon these conditions.

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14 comments:

  1. That's a very beautiful shot.

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  2. How does that make me envious!
    Not only can't I grow these bushes, but I love eating the fruit, and they are getting very dear now, as they have to travel from halfway round the world.
    Great image, especially when enlarged.

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  3. Beautiful! They're a little different from our blueberry flowers.

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  4. My son-in-law has planted a small blue berry bush - don't remember the color of the flowers, but the leaf is definitely a darker green. Your capture of the flowers is very pretty.

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  5. That's a beautiful shot. We have some blueberry bushes at our farm. I love the way they look, especially when they are full of berries. My husband grew up in New Jersey (US) and the blueberries there are incredibly delicious.

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  6. Is this the flower of the famous blueberry made into jam? They are so exquisite.

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  7. Beautiful shot of these lovely flowers!

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  8. Glad to have found you and thank you for hosting. Nice shot of the blueberry blooms!

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  9. Wow ! These are beautiful flowers !

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  10. Just such a beautiful image of one of my top fave fruits!

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  11. Thank you all for your comments. It really is quite impolite to link here and not refer back to this page, or to link here and then send your readers to another meme! Hmmmmm...

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