Vaccinium meridionale


Vaccinium meridionale, the Agraz or Andean blueberry, is a species in the section Conchophyllum of the genus Vaccinium, in the heath and heather family. It is found in the mountains of Colombia and Venezuela and may have been introduced to Jamaica. Like socalled wild blueberries in North America, it is artisanally tended in a manner that differs little from wild growing conditions, with few inputs. Its fruit is gathered in the wild and widely sold in local health food markets and grocery stores.

Description

It is a shrub which measures from 1.5 m to 7 m in height. The leaves are simple, alternate, elliptical to oval in shape, coriaceous, with a sharp, slight apiculate apex, cuneate base and a crenate margin. The flowers are tetramerous, or sometimes pentamerous, with a white corolla, possibly marked with pink or red. The inflorescence is racemic, producing 10 to 15 flowers per raceme. The fruits are round, approximately 1.2 cm in diameter, green during growth and dark red upon reaching maturity, with an acid taste.