6216.000 Vaccinium L.

Shrubs, creeping or small trees, terrestrial or epiphytic. Leaves spirally arranged, usually with a marginal gland on each side close to the base; margins entire or serrate. Inflorescence racemes or fascicles or solitary, terminal or axillary, pedicels usually with two bracteoles. Calyx limb lobed or toothed; corolla urceolate, campanulate or tubular, lobes 4 or 5. Fruit berries crowned by the disc and persistent calyx. Seeds many, small, ellipsoid, irregularly compressed.

Worldwide: 450 species in Central and South America, Europe, Africa, Madagascar and Asia.

Zimbabwe: 1 cultivated taxon.