Gaylussacia frondosa

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Gaylussacia frondosa
Gaylussacia frondosa NRCS-02.jpg
Status TNC G5.svg
Secure  (NatureServe)
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. frondosa
Binomial name
Gaylussacia frondosa
(L.) Torr. & A.Gray ex Torr. 1843
Synonyms [1]
List
  • Vaccinium frondosum L. 1753
  • Adnaria frondosa(Torr. & A.Gray) Kuntze
  • Decachaena frondosa(L.) Small
  • Decamerium frondosum(L.) Nutt.
  • Vaccinium decamerocarponDunal
  • Vaccinium glaucumLam.
  • Vaccinium tomentosumPursh ex A.Gray
  • Vaccinium venustumAiton

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. [2] [3]

Contents

This shrub grows up to two meters (80 inches) tall. The plant spreads via rhizome, sprouting up new stems to form colonies. The leaves are up to 6 centimeters (2.4 inches) long by 3 cm (1.2 inches) wide. They are hairy and glandular. The inflorescence contains 1 to 4 flowers that hang on pedicels up to 2 centimeters (0.8 inch) long. The flower is bell-shaped and greenish white. The fruit is a juicy, sweet-tasting drupe which is usually blue but may be black or white. [2]

This plant grows on the Atlantic coastal plain. It grows in wooded areas and next to bogs and swamps. It is common in the pine barrens of New Jersey. It grows on acidic soils low in nutrients. It grows with other related plants such as highbush blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum), hillside blueberry (V. pallidum), Lyonia spp., sheep-laurel (Kalmia angustifolia), wintergreen (Gaultheria procumbens), dwarf huckleberry (Gaylussacia dumosa), and black huckleberry (G. baccata). [4]

Many animals eat the berries and disperse the seeds. [4]

Description

The stems are round and may be brown, green or red and can have some hairs present. [5]  

The bell-shaped and greenish white flowers blooms in late springtime, usually in May and June. [6]

The fruiting period for Gaylussacia frondosa begins in the summer, usually July through August. During this time the loose hanging fruits turn from green to dark blue and black as they mature. [5]

The plant spreads via rhizome within small patches, sprouting up new stems to form colonies. Two or more stems may branch up above the surface from the larger rhizome system below, usually around 2–6 feet apart. [7] These rhizomes are often confined to the humus layer along with the roots of the plants. These branches of rhizomes create larger colonies of the plant over time. New colonies can be created when animals eats the berries and disperse the seeds.

Although the plant grows in similar habitats and looks very similar to the plant Gaylussacia baccata , the leaves of Dangleberry can be distinguished by their often pale green leaves that are typically more pale below than on G. baccata. When squeezed, the leaf of G. baccata produces a glandular, sticky yellow resin from both sides, but only the bottom of G. frondosa produces this resin. [8]

Taxonomy

Gaylussacia frondosa was once more widely circumscribed, encompassing three varieties; however, G. frondosa var. nana and G. frondosa var. tomentosa are now widely recognized at species level, as Gaylussacia nana and Gaylussacia tomentosa . [2]

Synonyms for this plant include both Vaccinium frondosum (L.) and Decachaena frondosa (L.). [9] [10] [11]

Distribution and habitat

This plant is native to the East coast of the United States from New Hampshire and as far west and south as Mississippi. [12] It grows in wooded areas and next to bogs and swamps. It is found in the wetland regions of Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Plain, Eastern Mountains and Piedmont, and Northcentral & Northeast. The wetland indicator status of this shrub is facultative in all three wetland regions it is present in. [13]

It is very common in the pine barrens of New Jersey and the eastern piedmont and coastal plain of North and South Carolina. [14] [8] It most often grows in areas with acidic soils low in nutrients and a shallow organic layer. Blue huckleberry colonies are often found in habitats such as the maritime forest, cedar swamp, hardwood swamp, pine lowland communities. [7] [15] They are also commonly found in disturbed areas such as roadsides and annually burned pinelands. [16]

Gaylussacia frondosa is often found near other similar ericaceous shrubs such as the highbush blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum), hillside blueberry (V. pallidum), Lyonia spp., sheep-laurel (Kalmia angustifolia), wintergreen (Gaultheria procumbens), dwarf huckleberry (Gaylussacia dumosa), and black huckleberry (G. baccata).[4]. [17] [18]

Ecology

Dangleberry is known to provide both food and shelter to wildlife. [19] The low shrub can provide cover for small mammals and birds. Many birds, including sharp-tailed grouse, greater prairie chicken, wild turkey, and mourning dove as well as mammals like black bears and racoon eat the berries. These animals and many more eat the berries and disperse the seeds. [20] The stems can also be eaten by white-tailed deer and cottontail rabbit. [21]

This plant is also known to be valuable for pollinators, especially insect pollinators. [22] These pollinators often feed on the nectar of the pink or white flowers when they bloom from the plant in the spring. Butterflies especially are attracted to Gaylussacia frondosa for its flower nectar. Blue huckleberry is a host plant for the larvae of Callophrys henrici , also known as Henry's Elfin butterfly, which appear from February to May. [5]

Fire ecology

Gaylussacia frondosa is considered to be a highly fire tolerant shrub. Low-intensity fires have been found to encourage vegetative growth in this plant and stimulate sprouting. [23] Although the parts of the plant exposed above the ground are often destroyed by the fires, rhizomes beneath the surface often survive and sprout from dormant buds following fire events. [24] [25] This shrub can be found in many habitats have relatively high fire frequency.

Despite being highly fire tolerant plants, high intensity fires that damage the humus layer may reduce or eliminate Blue Huckleberry from a site by destroying the underlying rhizomes. [21] When the rhizomes below the surface are destroyed, the plant can only be reintroduced to an area through dispersal by animals. In addition, fires that are too frequent could also badly damage these root systems and reduce populations of this shrub.

Uses

When ripe, the fruits found on this plant are edible. The small berries can be picked fresh and eaten raw or cooked. [26] The fruits can be used in pudding. [27] [28]

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 ericaceous plants, they are generally restricted to acidic soils.

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

Vaccinium virgatum is a species of blueberry native to the Southeastern United States, from North Carolina south to Florida and west to Texas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Atlantic coastal pine barrens</span> Temperate coniferous forest ecoregion of Northeast United States

The Atlantic coastal pine barrens is a now rare temperate coniferous forest ecoregion of the Northeast United States distinguished by unique species and topographical features, generally nutrient-poor, often acidic soils and a pine tree distribution once controlled by frequent fires.

<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, growing as far south as the Great Smoky Mountains and west to the Great Lakes region. Vaccinium angustifolium is the most common species of the commercially used wild blueberries 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 which has become a food crop of significant economic importance. It is native to eastern Canada and the eastern and southern United States, from Ontario east to Nova Scotia and south as far as Florida and eastern Texas. It is also naturalized in other places: Europe, Japan, New Zealand, the Pacific Northwest of North America, etc. 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 shrub with common names including common blueberry, velvetleaf huckleberry, velvetleaf blueberry, Canadian blueberry, and sourtop blueberry. It is common in much of North America, reported from all 10 Canadian provinces plus Nunavut and Northwest Territories, as well as from the northeastern and Great Lakes states in the United States. It is also known to occur in Montana and Washington.

<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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Blueberry</span> Section of plants

Blueberries are a widely distributed and widespread group of perennial flowering plants with blue or purple berries. They are classified in the section Cyanococcus within the genus Vaccinium. Vaccinium also includes cranberries, bilberries, huckleberries and Madeira blueberries. Commercial blueberries—both wild (lowbush) and cultivated (highbush)—are all native to North America. The highbush varieties were introduced into Europe during the 1930s.

<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>Gaylussacia baccata</i> Berry and plant

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

<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 deliciosum</i> Species of flowering plant

Vaccinium deliciosum is a species of bilberry known by the common names Cascade bilberry, Cascade blueberry, and blueleaf huckleberry.

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

Vaccinium membranaceum is a species within the group of Vaccinium commonly referred to as huckleberry. This particular species is known by the common names thinleaf huckleberry, tall huckleberry, big huckleberry, mountain huckleberry, square-twig blueberry, and (ambiguously) as "black huckleberry".

<i>Arundinaria gigantea</i> Species of bamboo from North America known as giant river cane

Arundinaria gigantea is a species of bamboo known as giant cane, river cane, and giant river cane. It is endemic to the south-central and southeastern United States as far west as Oklahoma and Texas and as far north as New York. Giant river cane was economically and culturally important to indigenous people, with uses including as a vegetable and materials for construction and craft production. Arundinaria gigantea and other species of Arundinaria once grew in large colonies called canebrakes covering thousands of acres in the southeastern United States, but today these canebrakes are considered endangered ecosystems.

<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>Lyonia ligustrina</i> Species of tree

Lyonia ligustrina is a species of flowering plant in the family Ericaceae known by the common names maleberry and he-huckleberry. It is native to the eastern United States from Maine to Florida and west to Texas and Oklahoma.

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

Vaccinium myrsinites is a species of flowering plant in the heath family known by the common name shiny blueberry. It is native to the southeastern United States from Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina and Florida. It may occur as far west as Louisiana.

<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 (Ontario) and the central and eastern United States plus the Ozarks of Missouri, Arkansas, southeastern Kansas and eastern Oklahoma.

Gaylussacia tomentosa, commonly known as the hairy dangleberry or hairytwig huckleberry, is a plant species native to the coastal plains of the southeastern United States.

References

  1. ↑ The Plant List, Gaylussacia frondosa (L.) Torr. & A.Gray
  2. 1 2 3 Gaylussacia frondosa. Flora of North America.
  3. ↑ Biota of North America Program 2014 county distribution map
  4. 1 2 Carey, Jennifer H. 1994. Gaylussacia frondosa. In: Fire Effects Information System, [Online]. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Fire Sciences Laboratory.
  5. 1 2 3 "Gaylussacia frondosa (Blue Huckleberry, Dangleberry) | North Carolina Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox". plants.ces.ncsu.edu. Retrieved 2023-11-14.
  6. ↑ "Gaylussacia frondosa in Flora of North America @ efloras.org". www.efloras.org. Retrieved 2023-11-14.
  7. 1 2 Laycock, William A. (1967). Distribution of Roots and Rhizomes in Different Soil Types in the Pine Barrens of New Jersey. U.S. Government Printing Office.
  8. 1 2 "Vascular Plants of North Carolina". auth1.dpr.ncparks.gov. Retrieved 2023-11-10.
  9. ↑ "ITIS - Report: Gaylussacia frondosa". www.itis.gov. Retrieved 2023-11-14.
  10. ↑ "Gaylussacia frondosa | International Plant Names Index". www.ipni.org. Retrieved 2023-11-14.
  11. ↑ "Gaylussacia frondosa (L.) Torr. & A.Gray | Plants of the World Online | Kew Science". Plants of the World Online. Retrieved 2023-11-14.
  12. ↑ "USDA Plants Database". plants.usda.gov. Retrieved 2023-11-14.
  13. ↑ "NWPL Species v3.4-f9b". wetland-plants.usace.army.mil. Retrieved 2023-11-14.
  14. ↑ "Common Plants of the New Jersey Pinelands". nj.gov. Retrieved 2023-11-10.
  15. ↑ "Plants - Cape Hatteras National Seashore (U.S. National Park Service)". www.nps.gov. Retrieved 2023-11-10.
  16. ↑ Komarek, R.; McDaniel, Sidney; Norris, R. A.; Pittman, Bert; Boyle, Kathy; Brown, Herrick. "Florida State University Herbarium Database". herbarium.bio.fsu.edu. Retrieved 6 November 2023.
  17. ↑ Laderman, Aimlee D.; Brody, Michael; Pendleton, Edward (1989). "The ecology of Atlantic white cedar wetlands: a community profile". U.S. Department of Interior, Fish and Wildlife Service, National Wetlands Research Center.
  18. ↑ "Gaylussacia frondosa - Species Page - NYFA: New York Flora Atlas". newyork.plantatlas.usf.edu. Retrieved 2023-11-10.
  19. ↑ "Native Shrubs for Plantings as Wildlife Food | Mass.gov". www.mass.gov. Retrieved 2023-11-14.
  20. ↑ "Gaylussacia frondosa". www.fs.usda.gov. Retrieved 2023-11-12.
  21. 1 2 "Gaylussacia frondosa". www.fs.usda.gov. Retrieved 2023-10-21.
  22. ↑ Rathcke, Beverly (1988). "Interactions for Pollination among Coflowering Shrubs". Ecology. 69 (2): 446–457. doi:10.2307/1940443. ISSN   0012-9658. JSTOR   1940443.
  23. ↑ "Gaylussacia frondosa". www.fs.usda.gov. Retrieved 2023-10-21.
  24. ↑ Buell, Murray F.; Cantlon, John E. (1 July 1953). "Effects of Prescribed Burning on Ground Cover in the New Jersey Pine Region". Ecology. 34 (3): 520–528. doi:10.2307/1929724. JSTOR   1929724. S2CID   84481807.
  25. ↑ Cohen, Susan; Braham, Richard; Sanchez, Felipe (30 November 2004). "Seed Bank Viability in Disturbed Longleaf Pine Sites". Restoration Ecology. 12 (4): 503–515. doi:10.1111/j.1061-2971.2004.00382.x. ISSN   1061-2971.
  26. ↑ Hammer, Roger L. (2023-09-08). Foraging Florida: Finding, Identifying, and Preparing Edible and Medicinal Wild Foods in Florida. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN   978-1-4930-6980-4.
  27. ↑ "New York Metropolitan Flora". nymf.bbg.org. Retrieved 2023-11-14.
  28. ↑ Sturtevant, E. Lewis; Hedrick, U. P. (1919). Sturtevant's notes on edible plants. Albany: J.B. Lyon. doi:10.5962/bhl.title.24577. ISBN   0-486-20459-6.
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