Vaccinium deliciosum

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Vaccinium deliciosum
Vaccinium deliciosum Full Plant.jpg
Vaccinium deliciosum full plant
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Ericales
Family: Ericaceae
Genus: Vaccinium
Species:
V. deliciosum
Binomial name
Vaccinium deliciosum
Piper 1901

Vaccinium deliciosum is a species of bilberry known by the common names Cascade bilberry, Cascade blueberry, and blueleaf huckleberry. It is a flowering plant in the heath family Ericaceae.

Vaccinium deliciosum is native to western North America from British Columbia to northern California with a few isolated populations in eastern Idaho. It grows at elevations of 600–2,000 metres (2,000–6,600 ft) in subalpine and alpine climates. Its habitat includes coniferous forests, meadows, and clearings. [1] [2] [3]

Description

Vaccinium deliciosum is a rhizomatous shrub taking a clumpy, matted form, its tangling stem rooting where its nodes touch moist substrate. It may form expansive colonies. The new green twigs are hairless and waxy and the deciduous leaves are alternately arranged. The thin oval leaf blades are between 1.5 and 5 cm in length while the edges are mostly smooth but may be serrated near the ends. [4]

Solitary flowers occur in the leaf axils. Each is 6 or 7 millimeters long, widely urn-shaped to rounded, and pale pink in color. The fruit is a waxy blue or reddish berry with a powdery coating which may be over a centimeter (>0.4 inches) wide. It is said to be particularly tasty. [4] This species can sometimes be confused with Vaccinium caespitosum which grows in wetter areas in the same region. V. deliciosum has a powdery coating on the underside of its leaves, while V. caespitosum does not. [5]

Physiology

Studies show that the intense flavor of the fruits of this plant come from at least 31 different aromatic flavor compounds [6] V. deliciosum, like other plants that live alpine communities, have adapted to survive in growing seasons as short as three or four months. From late fall to spring, the plants rely on snow cover to insulate them from temperatures more than several degrees below freezing. Blossoms can become damaged and summer growth can be stunted if the plants experience a hard frost below negative four degrees celsius if unprotected by snow. However, the plants do require a vernalization period of freezing temperatures for at least a few months for flowering to occur. [7]

Vaccinium deliciosum fruit Vaccinium deliciosum.jpg
Vaccinium deliciosum fruit

Ecology

The berries are an important food source subalpine zones, and especially in alpine communities which do not have very many edible plants. Animals that feed on the berries include black bear, birds, mice, and chipmunks, while rabbits and deer eat the foliage. The berries are a favorite among humans, due to their intensely sweet flavor, and can be eaten fresh, dried, or cooked in various dishes. The berries were a staple in the diet of Native Americans in the Columbia Plateau region, who would often travel long distances to harvest the berries. Some tribes performed prescribed burns to create more favorable habitats for the plant. [8] After naturally occurring and prescribed forest fires in alpine communities, V. deliciousum is often one of the most successful surviving plant species. [9] Since the shrub is rhizomatous, it is sometimes possible to transplant and cultivate cuttings for agricultural or landscaping purposes. However, V. deliciosum often has difficulty growing at elevations below 2000 ft. [6]

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bilberry</span> Species of shrub with edible berries

Bilberries or blueberries are Eurasian low-growing shrubs in the genus Vaccinium in the flowering plant family Ericaceae), that bear edible, dark blue berries. The species most often referred to is Vaccinium myrtillus L., but there are several other closely related species.

<i>Rubus leucodermis</i> Species of plant

Rubus leucodermis, also called whitebark raspberry, blackcap raspberry, or blue raspberry, is a species of Rubus native to western North America.

<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 darrowii</i> Berry and plant

Vaccinium darrowii, with the common names Darrow's blueberry, evergreen blueberry, scrub blueberry, is a species of Vaccinium in the blueberry group.

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

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

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

Vaccinium ovatum is a North American species of flowering shrub known by the common names evergreen huckleberry, winter huckleberry, cynamoka berry and California huckleberry. Vaccinium ovatum is classified in phylum: Magnoliaphyta, order: Ericales, family: Ericaceae, genus: Vaccinium, and species: ovatum.

<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>Caltha leptosepala</i> Species of flowering plant

Caltha leptosepala, the white marsh marigold, twinflowered marsh marigold, or broadleaved marsh marigold, is a North American species of flowering plant in the buttercup family. The species has regionally distinct variations.

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

Blueberry is a widely distributed and widespread group of perennial flowering plant 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>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>Artemisia michauxiana</i> Species of flowering plant

Artemisia michauxiana is a North American species of wormwood in the sunflower family. It is known by the common names Michaux's wormwood and lemon sagewort. It is native to the western United States and Canada. It grows in mountain talus habitats in subalpine to alpine climates.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ecology of the North Cascades</span> Ecosystems of the Cascade mountain range in northern Washington state and southern British Columbia

The Ecology of the North Cascades is heavily influenced by the high elevation and rain shadow effects of the mountain range. The North Cascades is a section of the Cascade Range from the South Fork of the Snoqualmie River in Washington, United States, to the confluence of the Thompson and Fraser Rivers in British Columbia, Canada, where the range is officially called the Cascade Mountains but is usually referred to as the Canadian Cascades. The North Cascades Ecoregion is a Level III ecoregion in the Commission for Environmental Cooperation's classification system.

<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>Vaccinium scoparium</i> Berry and plant

Vaccinium scoparium is a species of huckleberry known by the common names grouse whortleberry, grouseberry, and littleleaf huckleberry.

<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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wild edible and medicinal plants of British Columbia</span>

There are numerous wild edible and medicinal plants in British Columbia that are used traditionally by First Nations peoples. These include seaweeds, rhizomes and shoots of flowering plants, berries, and fungi.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Flora of the Sierra Nevada alpine zone</span>

The flora of the U.S. Sierra Nevada alpine zone is characterized by small, low growing, cushion and mat forming plants that can survive the harsh conditions in the high-altitude alpine zone above the timber line. These flora often occur in alpine fell-fields. The Sierra Nevada alpine zone lacks a dominant plant species that characterizes it, so may or may not be called a vegetation type. But it is found above the subalpine forest, which is the highest in a succession of recognized vegetation types at increasing elevations.

<i>Vaccinium praestans</i> Species of shrub

Vaccinium praestans, the Kamchatka bilberry, is a perennial shrub in the family Ericaceae, which includes species like cranberries, blueberries, and huckleberries. In Russia this plant is known as the Klopovka, or stink-bug berry, due to its distinct, potent scent, resembling that of a secretion produced by bugs of Heteroptera genus. The plant is native to Kamchatka but can be found in North America to Eastern Asia. Mostly growing in the wild, it is also enjoyed as an ornamental plant, most commonly in Japan, where it is used to decorate home gardens. Like many other species in the family Ericaceae, its berries are edible.

References

  1. Biota of North America Program 2014 county distribution map
  2. Turner Photographics, Vaccinium deliciosum - Wildflowers of the Pacific Northwest photos, description, partial distribution map
  3. "Vaccinium deliciosum Calflora". www.calflora.org. Retrieved 2022-10-19.
  4. 1 2 Flora of North America, Vaccinium deliciosum Piper, 1901. Cascade bilberry
  5. Turner, Mark; Gustafson, Phyllis (2006). Wildflowers of the Pacific Northwest . Timber Press, Inc. p.  345. ISBN   9780881927450.
  6. 1 2 "Information on Huckleberry Plants".
  7. Barney, Danny L. "Growing Western Huckleberries" (PDF). University of Idaho. Retrieved 26 May 2017.
  8. Russell Janish, Jeanne. "CASCADE BILBERRY Vaccinium deliciosum Piper" (PDF). Plant Guide. Retrieved 26 April 2017.
  9. Douglas, George W.; Ballard, T.M. (1971). "Effects of Fire on Alpine Plant Communities in the North Cascades, Washington". Ecology. 52 (36): 1058–1064. doi:10.2307/1933813. JSTOR   1933813.