Short answers, pulled from the story.
Commercial blueberries, both wild lowbush and cultivated highbush, are all native to North America. They are classified in the section Cyanococcus within the genus Vaccinium. Highbush varieties were introduced into Europe during the 1930s.
Frederick Vernon Coville of the USDA-ARS, working with Elizabeth Coleman White of New Jersey, first cultivated highbush blueberries. He began work after 1910, started a joint research program in 1911, and succeeded by 1916, making blueberries a valuable crop in the Northeastern United States.
Lowbush blueberries have small, pea-size berries growing on low bushes and are managed on fields called barrens rather than planted, while highbush blueberries have larger berries on taller, cultivated bushes. Lowbush berries are smaller but more intensely colored, and their polyphenol and anthocyanin content exceeds that of highbush cultivars.
In 2024, world production of blueberries was 1.4 million tonnes, led by the United States with 29% of the total, Peru with 25%, and Canada with 12%. Canadian production that year reached 165,608 tonnes, its second-largest fruit crop after apples.
Wild is a marketing term for harvests of managed native stands of lowbush blueberries. The bushes are not planted or selectively bred, but they are pruned or burned over every two years and have their pests managed, so the label does not indicate the berries are free from pesticides.
Blueberries are 84% water, 14% carbohydrates, 1% protein, and contain negligible fat. In a 100 g amount they supply 57 calories and are a moderate source, 11-16% of the Daily Value, of vitamin K, vitamin C, and manganese.
Hammonton, New Jersey, claims to be the Blueberry Capital of the World, with over 80% of New Jersey's cultivated blueberries coming from that town. Oxford, Nova Scotia, is known as the Wild Blueberry Capital of Canada.