Blueberries are just one example of ericaceous trees and shrubs which belong to the family “Ericaceae”. One of the defining characteristics of these shrubs is that they require acidic soil in order to grow properly. This is why blueberries cannot be successfully grown just anywhere.

You will find that some other examples of ericaceous shrubs include bearberries, azaleas, cranberries, heather & heaths, strawberries, whortleberries, pieris, and rhododendrons. This term is most often used to simply describe a plant that grows best in acidic soil, despite what the family of the shrub may be.