The Benefits of Blueberries II
There are three or four species of cranberry, classified in two sections:
* Oxycoccus or Oxycoccus Vaccinium palustris (Common Cranberry or Northern Cranberry). It is found throughout the Northern Hemisphere cold area, including northern Europe, northern Asia and North America.
The leaves are small, between 5 and 10 mm. The leaves are dark pink with a purple central spike, and grow on stems finely hairy. The fruit is a small pale pink berry, with a refreshing sharp taste sour.
* Vaccinium microcarpum or Oxycoccus microcarpus (small cranberry), which occurs in northern Europe and northern Asia, and differs in that the leaves are more triangular, and flower stems are hairless. Some botanists include it in V. oxycoccus.
* Vaccinium macrocarpon or Oxycoccus macrocarpus (American Cranberry) native to northern North America (eastern Canada and eastern United States, south of North Carolina at high altitudes). It differs from V. oxycoccus in the leaves are larger, between 10 and 20 mm in length, and taste slightly similar to the block.
* Vaccinium erythrocarpum or Oxycoccus erythrocarpus (mountain cranberry south), is native to southeastern North America at high altitudes in the southern Appalachian Mountains, and also in East Asia.