Fruit size is quite large for a wild Vaccinium, especially a diploid species. The general range in fruit diameters is from 5mm to 16mm, with occasional plants with fruit 19mm in diameter. Fruit size is positively correlated with number of developing seeds, and potentially viable seed number range from 5 to 29 per berry determined that plants with the largest fruit average occur in the Lexington Country, South Carolina and the coastal North Carolina/South Carolina border area.
The color of mature fruit is extremely variable, ranging from greenish-white, yellowish, light red, dark red, blue, purple-blue, purple black, reddish black, to dark purple. The surface of the fruit may be either glaucous or glabrous, and galaucousness on the fruit is generally correlated with galaucousness on vegetative parts. Fruits from plants in the South Carolina sandhill region were the most glaucous.Fruits of V.stamineum typically have some bitterness in the skin, although the degree of bitterness and sweetness is quite variable. Fruits from the South Carolina sandhill region found to were the most palatable. Fruits typically drop to the ground as soon as they ripen and since the calyx tube is continues with the pedicel, the pedicel remains attached to the fruit.
Blueberry: Fruit Characteristics
