Joyce Anne Mendoza 

Vaccinium fallax, a newly discovered species of blueberry, has been found on the country's highest peak, Mount Apo, by researchers Maverick Tamayo and his team. 

The said micro-endemic blueberry can be found in the open areas near the summit, growing alongside wild berries (V. myrtoides) on rhyolite boulders, in plain sight.

Photos Courtesy Facebook/The Berries Cabin Farm & Restaurant/Mount Apo Natural Park RXII/DENR-Davao.

The newly emerged species was described by Maverick Tamayo and Peter Fritsch, in collaboration with researchers from Central Mindanao University, the National Museum of the Philippines, and the University of North Carolina-Wilmington, in an article published by Phytoxa and Magnolia Press in 2022.

Tamayo and Fritsch also stated that it can be distinguished from V. myrtoides by looking at its distinct feature such as “smaller leaves, flower bracts that are easily detached, a shorter flower stalk, a floral cup that looks like an inverted cone, a flower calyx that is broadly triangular in shape, and deep pink or red urn-shaped flowers”. 

Vaccinium fallax is proposed as critically endangered under the guidelines of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature.

Mount Apo Natural Park implements a “Leave No Trace” policy for trekkers and is a protected area by virtue of Republic Act 9237 of 2003 under the National Integrated Protected Areas System.