Vaccinium sikkimense is an Asian species of flowering plant in the family Ericaceae. It was first described by Charles Baron Clarke in 1882 and may only be a dwarf alpine form of Vaccinium glaucoalbum.
Description Vaccinium sikkimense is a small, rather rigid, evergreen shrub, reaching up to in height. Its leaves are pointed oval in shape, hairless, somewhat leathery, toothed, and about long. They are densely arranged on the stems.
In July, pink flowers are produced in axillary and terminal clusters, which have pink bracts. The corolla is about long. The blue-black fruits ripen in August and September.
Taxonomy Vaccinium sikkimense was first collected by Joseph Dalton Hooker in Lachen, Sikkim, and described for science by Charles Baron Clarke in the third volume of Hooker's Flora of British India, published in 1882. In the same work, Clarke also described Vaccinium glaucoalbum (attributing the name to Hooker). Some sources agree this is a separate species, while others treat it as the accepted name for V. sikkimense. V. sikkimense may only be the dwarfed alpine form of V. glaucoalbum.
Distribution and habitat Vaccinium sikkimense is distributed from the eastern Himalayas, through northeast Nepal and southeast Tibet into western South Central China and northwest Myanmar (Burma). It has not been recorded from either Bhutan or Arunachal Pradesh, giving it a disjunct distribution. It was originally collected at an altitude of , and was later collected at around in open woodland.
Cultivation The species was collected by several of the early pioneers of botanical collecting in the Himalayas, including George Forrest, Joseph Rock and Frank Kingdon-Ward. Of these, only Kingdon-Ward appears to have introduced living material to cultivation, in 1931 and 1953. It was collected again and brought into cultivation in 1981, by Tony Schilling. A hardy ornamental shrub, it remains rare in cultivation, although grown in public gardens in several parts of Great Britain.
Uses One source describes the fruits as "excellent eating".
References , p. 451