Gaylussacia baccata

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Black huckleberry
Black-huckleberry-Acadia.jpg
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Ericales
Family: Ericaceae
Genus: Gaylussacia
Species:
G. baccata
Binomial name
Gaylussacia baccata
Synonyms [1]
List
  • Andromeda baccataWangenh. 1787
  • Decachaena baccata(Wangenh.) Small
  • Adnaria resinosa(Torr. & A.Gray) Kuntze
  • Decamerium resinosumNutt.
  • Gaylussacia resinosa(Aiton) Torr. & A.Gray
  • Vaccinium glabrumP.Watson
  • Vaccinium parviflorumAndrews
  • Vaccinium resinosumAiton

Gaylussacia baccata, the black huckleberry, is a common huckleberry found throughout a wide area of eastern North America.

Contents

Description

Gaylussacia baccata is a shrub up to 150 cm (5 feet) tall, forming extensive colonies. Flowers are in dangling groups of 3–7, orange or red, bell-shaped. The berries are dark blue, almost black, rarely white. [2]

Similar species

The plant closely resembles the native blueberry plants ( Vaccinium species) with which it grows in the same habitats. It can be readily identified by the numerous resin dots on the undersides of the leaves which glitter when held up to the light.

Distribution

The plant is native to Eastern Canada and the Great Lakes region, the Midwestern and Northeastern United States, and the Appalachian Mountains, the Ohio/Mississippi/Tennessee Valley, and Southeastern United States. The range extends from Newfoundland west to Manitoba and Minnesota, south as far as Arkansas, Alabama, and Georgia. [3]

Ecology

The shrub is considered fire-resistant due to surviving rhizomes quickly sending out new shoots following fires. [4]

It is a larval host to the brown elfin, Gordian sphinx, Henry's elfin, and huckleberry sphinx. [5]

Uses

The berries are sweet and tasty. People eat them raw, jellied, or baked into pancakes, muffins, and many other items. [6] :39

See also

Related Research Articles

<i>Vaccinium</i> Genus of berry-producing shrubs in the heath family

Vaccinium is a common and widespread genus of shrubs or dwarf shrubs in the heath family (Ericaceae). The fruits of many species are eaten by humans and some are of commercial importance, including the cranberry, blueberry, bilberry (whortleberry), lingonberry (cowberry), and huckleberry. Like many other heath plants, they are restricted to acidic soils.

<i>Xerophyllum asphodeloides</i> Species of flowering plant

Xerophyllum asphodeloides is a North American species of flowering plants in the Melanthiaceae known by the common names turkey beard, eastern turkeybeard, beartongue, grass-leaved helonias, and mountain asphodel. It is native to the eastern United States, where it occurs in the southern Appalachian Mountains from Virginia to Alabama, and also in the Pine Barrens of New Jersey.

<i>Gaylussacia</i> Genus of flowering plants

Gaylussacia is a genus of about fifty species of flowering plants in the family Ericaceae, native to the Americas, where they occur in eastern North America and in South America in the Andes and the mountains of southeastern Brazil. Common English names include huckleberry and "dangleberry".

<i>Vaccinium angustifolium</i> Berry and plant

Vaccinium angustifolium, commonly known as the wild lowbush blueberry, is a species of blueberry native to eastern and central Canada and the northeastern United States. It is the most common commercially used wild blueberry and is considered the "low sweet" berry.

<i>Vaccinium corymbosum</i> Species of plant

Vaccinium corymbosum, the northern highbush blueberry, is a North American species of blueberry. Other common names include blue huckleberry, tall huckleberry, swamp huckleberry, high blueberry, and swamp blueberry.

<i>Vaccinium myrtilloides</i> Berry and plant

Vaccinium myrtilloides is a North American shrub with common names including common blueberry, velvetleaf huckleberry, velvetleaf blueberry, Canadian blueberry, and sourtop blueberry.

<i>Vaccinium parvifolium</i> Berry and plant

Vaccinium parvifolium, the red huckleberry, is a species of Vaccinium native to western North America.

<i>Vaccinium uliginosum</i> Berry and plant

Vaccinium uliginosum is a Eurasian and North American flowering plant in the heath family Ericaceae.

<i>Vaccinium cespitosum</i> Berry and plant

Vaccinium cespitosum, known as the dwarf bilberry, dwarf blueberry, or dwarf huckleberry, is a species of flowering shrub in the genus Vaccinium, which includes blueberries, huckleberries, and cranberries.

<i>Vaccinium ovalifolium</i> Species of flowering plant

Vaccinium ovalifolium is a plant in the heath family with three varieties, all of which grow in northerly regions.

<i>Gaylussacia brachycera</i> Species of plant

Gaylussacia brachycera, commonly known as box huckleberry or box-leaved whortleberry, is a low North American shrub related to the blueberry and the other huckleberries. It is native to the east-central United States.

<i>Quercus ilicifolia</i> Species of oak tree

Quercus ilicifolia, commonly known as bear oak or scrub oak, is a small shrubby oak native to the Eastern United States and, less commonly, in southeastern Canada. Its range in the United States extends from Maine to North Carolina, with reports of a few populations north of the international frontier in Ontario. The name ilicifolia means "holly-leaved."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Huckleberry</span> Berry and plant

Huckleberry is a name used in North America for several plants in the family Ericaceae, in two closely related genera: Vaccinium and Gaylussacia.

<i>Vaccinium membranaceum</i> Species of plant

Vaccinium membranaceum is a species of flowering plant in the heath family Ericaceae, known by the common names thinleaf huckleberry, tall huckleberry, big huckleberry, mountain huckleberry, square-twig blueberry, and ambiguously as "black huckleberry".

<i>Gaylussacia dumosa</i> Berry and plant

Gaylussacia dumosa is a species of flowering plant in the heath family known by the common names dwarf huckleberry, bush huckleberry, and gopherberry. It is native to eastern North America from Newfoundland to Louisiana and Florida. It occurs along the coastal plain and in the mountains.

<i>Gaylussacia frondosa</i> Berry and plant

Gaylussacia frondosa is a species of flowering plant in the heath family known by the common names dangleberry and blue huckleberry. It is native to the eastern United States, where it occurs from New Hampshire to South Carolina.

<i>Vaccinium pallidum</i> Berry and plant

Vaccinium pallidum is a species of flowering plant in the heath family known by the common names hillside blueberry, Blue Ridge blueberry, late lowbush blueberry, and early lowbush blueberry. It is native to central Canada and the central and eastern United States.

<i>Vaccinium oxycoccos</i> Species of flowering plant

Vaccinium oxycoccos is a species of cranberry in the heath family. It is known as small cranberry, marshberry, bog cranberry, swamp cranberry, or just cranberry. It occurs broadly across cooler climates in the temperate Northern Hemisphere.

<i>Gaylussacia bigeloviana</i> Berry and plant

Gaylussacia bigeloviana, also known as the northern dwarf huckleberry or in French as the gaylussaquier de Bigelow, is a plant species native to the coastal plains of eastern Canada and the eastern United States. It grows from Newfoundland to South Carolina in swamps and marshes, including acidic bogs alongside Sphagnum peatmosses.

Gaylussacia orocola, is a plant species native only to the southern Appalachians of western North Carolina. This plant grows only in Mountain Bogs, severely limiting available habitat. This plant has many common names which may be shared with other species. It is known to The North Carolina Natural Heritage Program as the Appalachian dwarf huckleberry and The North Carolina Botanical Garden knows it as the Blue Ridge bog huckleberry. It may also be referred to as the Gopherberry, Blue Ridge huckleberry, or Dwarf Huckleberry.

References

  1. "Gaylussacia baccata". World Checklist of Selected Plant Families . Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew via The Plant List. Note that this website has been superseded by World Flora Online
  2. Sorrie, Bruce A.; Weakley, Alan S.; Tucker, Gordon C. (2009). "Gaylussacia baccata". In Flora of North America Editorial Committee (ed.). Flora of North America North of Mexico (FNA). Vol. 8. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press via eFloras.org, Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis, MO & Harvard University Herbaria, Cambridge, MA.
  3. "Gaylussacia baccata". State-level distribution map from the North American Plant Atlas (NAPA). Biota of North America Program (BONAP). 2014.
  4. Matlack, Glenn R. (1997). "Resource Allocation among Clonal Shoots of the Fire-Tolerant Shrub Gaylussacia baccata". Oikos. 80 (3): 509–518. doi:10.2307/3546624. ISSN   0030-1299.
  5. The Xerces Society (2016), Gardening for Butterflies: How You Can Attract and Protect Beautiful, Beneficial Insects, Timber Press.
  6. Gibbons, Euell (1962). Stalking the Wild Asparagus. New York: David McKay. pp. xiii+303. ISBN   978-0-911469-03-5. OCLC   16227916.