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{{Taxobox
| color = lightgreen
| name = ''Vaccinium darrowii''
| image = Vaccinium darrowii.jpg
| image_width = 240px
| regnum = [[Plant]]ae
| divisio = [[Flowering plant|Magnoliophyta]]
| classis = [[Magnoliopsida]]
| ordo = [[Ericales]]
| familia = [[Ericaceae]]
| genus = ''[[Vaccinium]]''
| species = '''''V. darrowii'''''
| binomial = ''Vaccinium darrowii''
| binomial_authority = [[Wendell Holmes Camp|Camp]]
}}
'''''Vaccinium darrowii''''' ('''Darrow's Blueberry''', '''Evergreen Blueberry''', or '''Southern Highbush Blueberry''') is a species of ''[[Vaccinium]]'' in the [[blueberry]] group (''Vaccinium'' sect. ''Cyanococcus''). It is native to the southeastern [[United States]], in [[Alabama]], [[Florida]], [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]], [[Louisiana]], and [[Mississippi]].
It is an [[evergreen]] [[shrub]] growing 30-120 cm tall, with small, simple ovoid-acute [[leaf|leaves]] 10-15 mm long. The [[flower]]s are white, bell-shaped, 4-8 mm long. The [[fruit]] is a [[berry]] 4-6 mm diameter, blue-black with a whitish waxy bloom.
===Cultivation and uses===
The species is grown both for its edible fruit, and as an [[ornamental plant]] in gardens.
Many commercial Southern Highbush Blueberry [[cultivar]]s are [[hybrid]]s, derived from crosses between ''Vaccinium darrowii'' with the [[Northern highbush blueberry|Northern Highbush Blueberry]] ''V. corymbosum'', as well as other species such as ''[[Rabbiteye blueberry|V. virgatum]]'' and ''[[Lowbush blueberry|V. angustifolium]]''<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/acc/search.pl?accid=PI+554944 | title=PI 554944 (Cultivar name: O'Neal) | work=Germplasm Resources Information Network - (GRIN) | date=2007-02-14}}</ref>. The following Southern Highbush Blueberry cultivars, listed by fruit ripening time, are recommended for the fruit garden and landscape:
*Very early season: 'O’Neal'
*Early/midseason: 'Cape Fear'
*Midseason: 'Blue Ridge' and 'Georgia Gem' (adapted to the Sandhills and Coastal Plains; needs frost protection in the Piedmont)
*Mid/late season: 'Legacy' and 'Summit'
*Late season: 'Ozarkblue' (Piedmont only).
Southern highbush cultivars, in addition to lower chilling requirements, also have greater tolerance to high summer temperatures, somewhat greater drought tolerance and develop superior fruit quality under [[Southern United States|Southern U.S.]] growing conditions. As a rule, Southern highbush blueberries are self-fertile. However, larger and earlier-ripening berries result if several cultivars are interplanted for cross-pollination.
==References==
*[http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/taxon.pl?41007 Germplasm Resources Information Network: ''Vaccinium darrowii'']
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[[Category:Ericaceae]]