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Plant Profile

Rayner's Blueberry (Vaccinium sempervirens)

Clonal habit of Vaccinium sempervirens.

Photo Credit: Michael Kunz

Global Rank: T1 - Critically Imperiled
Legal Status: N/A
Family: Ericaceae
State: SC
Nature Serve ID: 147905
Lifeform: Subshrub, Shrub
Date Inducted in National Collection: 02/25/1988

Description:

Rayners Blueberry is a small trailing or spreading heath found in Atlantic white cedar bogs and seepage slopes and endemic to Lexington County in the Sandhills of South Carolina. It produces few small white flowers in late March to early April and even fewer fruits. The leaves of Rayners blueberry superficially resemble those of the creeping blueberry (V. crassifolium), but can be distinguished by their larger size. Kirkman and Ballington (1990) reduced it to a subspecies V. crassifolium, but Weakley (2002) prefers to retain it as a species because of its distinct morphology. Rayners blueberry was first described in 1980 and is endangered in South Carolina.

Where is Rayner's Blueberry (Vaccinium sempervirens) located in the wild?

Habitat:

Trailing or spreading low-arching sub-shrub with semi-evergreen leaves. (Kirkman et al. 1989)

Distribution:

Slopes along the headwaters of Scouter Creek in Lexington County South Carolina (about 6 miles). Shealey's Pond in Lexington County contains the type specimen. (Kirkman et al. 1989)

States & Provinces:

Rayner's Blueberry can be found in South Carolina

Which CPC Partners conserve Rayner's Blueberry (Vaccinium sempervirens)?

North Carolina Botanical Garden

Not Sponsored

Conservation Actions

Assigned 06/09/17

CPC's Plant Sponsorship Program provides long term stewardship of rare plants in our National Collection. We are so grateful for all our donors who have made the Plant Sponsorship Program so successful. We are in the process of acknowledging all our wonderful plant sponsorship donors on our website. This is a work in progress and will be updated regularly.

Conservation Actions

Michael Kunz

11/30/2021

The North Carolina Botanical Garden updated seed collections of this rare blueberry in August 2021. Vaccinium sempervirens is a heavily clonal species known from a single county in SC. It is not known for prolific fruit production and as such most seed collections are small. To update aging collections and contribute seed to the IMLS longevity project, we collected about 3000 seed from 32 individual clumps (maternal lines) from one population. This collection is supported by CPC and made possible with the cooperation of the Kieth Bradley and the SC Natural Heritage Program.

Nature Serve Biotics

05/02/2017

The plant is endangered in South Carolina. It is endemic to South Carolina and there are no known occurences outside the state. It is limited to one drainage area.

01/01/2010

Isolated population and restricted range.

01/01/2010

Extremely uncommon endemic taxon with a very limited distribution. 3 populations known. (Kirkman et al. 1989)

01/01/2010

No current research underway.

01/01/2010

Populations occur on private land. No current management or protection is afforded (Bert Pittman, South Carolina Heritage Trust Program, pers. comm.)

01/01/2010

Seed collection from all extant populations. Pollination ecology, basic community relationships, population genetic studies.

01/01/2010

Further seed collection and propagation are needed.