Vaccinium virgatum (Ericaceae), a species to be recognized

Since its original publication in 1789, Vaccinium virgatum has been
treated by most authors as an accepted species in V. sect. Cyanococcus. In
the latest comprehensive taxonomic treatment of the section, however, it
is treated as a synonym of the broadly circumscribed species V.
corymbosum. Here we use morphology and estimation of ploidy level with
flow cytometry in combination with previously published phylogenomic
analysis based on high-throughput DNA sequencing to support the taxonomic
status of V. virgatum as a species to be recognized. As circumscribed
here, V. virgatum occurs in the southeastern U.S. Coastal Plain from
Arkansas and Texas to northeastern Florida and South Carolina. An updated
taxonomic treatment of the species, including an expanded description,
distribution map by county, and a representative list of specimens
examined by county is included. We provide a means of distinguishing V.
virgatum from V. ashei, a similar species recently also segregated from V.
corymbosum, and from presumed rabbiteye blueberry escapes from
cultivation, which can occur both within and outside of the native range
of V. virgatum. We designate a neotype for V. virgatum and lectotypes for
V. virgatum vars. angustifolium, parvifolium, and speciosum.