Vaccinium ovatum

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Vaccinium ovatum
Vacciniumovatum.jpg
Berry
Vaccinium ovatum (3438582162).jpg
Flower
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. ovatum
Binomial name
Vaccinium ovatum
Pursh 1813

Vaccinium ovatum is a North American species of flowering shrub known by the common names evergreen huckleberry, winter huckleberry, cynamoka berry and California huckleberry. [1] [2] Vaccinium ovatum is classified in phylum: Magnoliaphyta, order: Ericales, family: Ericaceae, genus: Vaccinium , and species: ovatum. [3]

Contents

It is found on the western side of the Cascade Range in North America. [2] It is a tall woody shrub that produces fleshy, edible berries in the summer. [2] The plant is used for food, natural landscaping, and floral arrangements. [2] [3] [4] [5]

Description

Vaccinium ovatum has characteristically bright red bark. G20090211-3390--Vaccinium ovatum--RPBG (12299948653).jpg
Vaccinium ovatum has characteristically bright red bark.

Vaccinium ovatum is an erect shrub that grows from 0.5 to 3 meters tall and is considered a slow growing plant. [3] The shrub has woody stems with bright red bark. [1] The leaves are waxy, alternately arranged with margins of about 2–5 cm, and are egg-shaped. [2] Leaf size is about 2 to 3 centimeters (0.8–1.2 inches) long and about a centimeter wide (0.4 inches) with finely serrated edges. [2] The leaves are a variety of colors from dark green to bright red. [3] This is caused by different intensities of sun exposure. [3] Sun exposure produces redder leaves. [3]

Vaccinium ovatum produces flowers in the early spring through early summer with white and light pink flowers. [2] These flowers are urceolate, meaning they hang down below the stem they are growing from. [2] The flowers are also bisexual, meaning they possess both organs that produce microgametes, and megagametes. [1] These flowers have five flower parts, and through the lifecycle eventually form a five-chamber fleshy berry. [2] [3] The multiples of five classify Vaccinium ovatum as a dicot. [6]

Berries are produced and ripen through the summer and into fall. [2] The berries remain on the shrub for up to a month before falling to the ground. [2] The berries are a dark purple to black color and are a little under a centimeter (0.4 inches) in diameter when ripe. [2] They are edible, [2] but have tartness likely due to their high content of phenolic acids, producing a pH of about 2.6. [7]

Vaccinium ovatum is typically diploid, [2] although research has found rare naturally occurring tetraploids as well as lab-produced tetraploids. [2] Tetraploidy also provides the individual with better disease prevention due to the increased genetic diversity. [2]

Habitat

The primary habitat for Vaccinium ovatum consists of moist, yet well drained and acidic soil. [1] [2] [3] As many plants, Vaccinium ovatum thrives in the sun but is also very tolerant of shade. [3] These preferred conditions can all be found west of the Cascade Mountain range where this species is often found thriving. [2] Though Vaccinium ovatum can be found in the higher elevations of Southern California, they are primarily found in the coastal forests of Northern California, Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia, [1] where it can grow in the salt spray. [3]

Vaccinium ovatum is an understory bush, often dominant in its habitat. [3] Other species commonly found growing nearby are V. parvifolium (Red Huckleberries) and Symphoricarpos albus (common snowberry). [2] Vaccinuim ovatum appear to thrive better in old growth forests. [3] This is most likely because they are a slow growing plant and require more time to reach maturity. [3]

Ecology

Vaccinium ovatum visited by a pollinator USFWS vaccinium ovatum (23830666195).jpg
Vaccinium ovatum visited by a pollinator

Vaccinium ovatum interacts with many other species for reasons spanning from resource competition to seed dispersal. [3] [6] V. ovatum also provides food for animals, facilitating seed dispersal. [3] [6] In addition to seed dispersal, V. ovatum relies on other species to disperse their pollen (pollination). [2] Their flowers are insect pollinated. [2] Vaccinium ovatum is a common food source for migrating birds. [5]

History

American botanist J.M. Bigelow wrote about the plant in 1853. [4] From the 1930s to 1950s, some 500–1000 tons were shipped to Europe for domestic sale per year. [3] Because the beautiful stems and leaves were so popular in floral arrangements in the early 20th century, Vaccinium ovatum became scarce. [4] In an effort to keep them from becoming legally endangered, Frank Moll, transplanted healthy specimens to his property where he started a nursery. [4] Moll died in 1960, but his nursery continued to thrive even without his care. [4]

In 2003, Vaccinium ovatum populations became infected with a fungal disease caused by Pucciniastrum goeppertianum (witches' broom). [4] The disease caused stem proliferation and decreased berry production, but did not kill the plants. [4]

Native Americans have historically used the berries for food and traditional medicine purposes. [1] [3]

Uses

Culinary

Pie made with filling of blueberries and huckleberries Blueberry and huckleberry pie with lemonzest crust.jpg
Pie made with filling of blueberries and huckleberries

Berries are consumed raw, cooked, or dried. [4] They are also incorporated into many common food items, such as pies, pancakes, muffins, other pastries, as well as jams, jellies, wine, and tea. [4]

Cultivation

Vaccinium ovatum bush Vaccinium ovatum by Nick.JPG
Vaccinium ovatum bush

Vaccinium ovatum is grown as an ornamental plant for horticultural use by specialty wholesale, retail, and garden nurseries. [3] [4] The plant is successful in natural landscape and native plant palette style, and habitat gardens and public sustainable landscape and restoration projects that are similar to its habitat conditions. [3] They are not grown commercially. [1] [2]

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 ericaceous plants, they are generally restricted to acidic soils.

<i>Rubus parviflorus</i> Berry and plant

Rubus parviflorus, commonly called thimbleberry, is a species of Rubus native to northern temperate regions of North America. The plant has large hairy leaves and no thorns. It bears edible red fruit similar in appearance to a raspberry, but shorter, almost hemispherical. It has not been commercially developed for the retail berry market, but is cultivated for landscapes.

<i>Frangula californica</i> Species of tree

Frangula californica is a species of flowering plant in the buckthorn family native to western North America. It produces edible fruits and seeds. It is commonly known as California coffeeberry and California buckthorn.

<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 parvifolium</i> Berry and plant

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

<i>Eriogonum parvifolium</i> Species of wild buckwheat

Eriogonum parvifolium is a species in the family Polygonaceae that occurs on dune formations in the coastal area of Central and Southern California. This evergreen shrub grows to a height of 30 to 100 centimeters with a spread of approximately the same dimension. This plant is an important host for a number of pollinating insects including certain endangered species. E. parvifolium occurs both on bluffs along the Pacific Ocean coast as well as Coastal Strand dunes formations, but is restricted to altitudes below 700 meters. In at least one instance within the Carbonera Creek watershed, it occurs farther inland in a Maritime Coast Range Ponderosa Pine forest. This shrub is also known by the common names dune buckwheat, coast buckwheat, cliff buckwheat, or seacliff buckwheat.

<i>Cneoridium</i> North American genus of plants

Cneoridium is a monotypic genus in the citrus family which contains the single species Cneoridium dumosum, commonly known as bushrue or coast spice bush. As a perennial, evergreen shrub, Cneoridium is native to the coast of southern California and Baja California, thriving in hot, dry conditions. This plant is characterized by a distinctive citrusy aroma and small, white flowers that appear from winter to spring. The flowers eventually become round berries that resemble a miniature version of the common citrus.

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

Vaccinium stamineum, commonly known as deerberry, tall deerberry, highbush huckleberry, buckberry, and southern gooseberry, is a species of flowering plant in the heath family. It is native to North America, including Ontario, the eastern and central United States, and parts of Mexico. It is most common in the southeastern United States.

<i>Xylococcus bicolor</i> Tree or shrub from North America

Xylococcus is a monotypic genus of flowering plants in the heather family which contains the single species Xylococcus bicolor, commonly known as the mission manzanita. It is a burl-forming, evergreen shrub with leathery leaves and smooth dark reddish bark. From December to February, white to pink urn-shaped flowers adorn the foliage, often attracting hummingbird pollinators. It is native to southern California and the Baja California Peninsula, south to the Sierra de la Giganta. There is growing concern over the future of this plant, referred to as the "queen of the elfin forest, " as it may possibly lose up to 88% of its habitat and its wild seedlings are failing to survive more than a full year.

<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. It is a flowering plant in the heath family Ericaceae.

<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>Rhamnus lycioides</i> Species of shrub

Rhamnus lycioides, the black hawthorn, European buckthorn, or Mediterranean buckthorn, is a shrub up to about 1 metre tall in the buckthorn family, Rhamnaceae. It is found in the Mediterranean region, in southern Europe and northern Africa. Its scientific name lycioides refers to its resemblance to the botanical genus Lycium.

<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 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.

<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. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Victoria Triolo (13 April 2014). "Vaccinium ovatum". Plant Propagation Reports, Pennsylvania State University. Retrieved 2023-12-05.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 Neill, Kristin E.; Contreras, Ryan N. (February 2022). "Does Inducing Tetraploidy in Vaccinium ovatum Improve Fruit Traits and Plant Architecture?". HortScience. 57 (2): 312–318. doi: 10.21273/HORTSCI16332-21 .
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 Kerns, Becky K.; Alexander, Susan J.; Bailey, John D. (December 2004). "Huckleberry Abundance, Stand Conditions, and Use in Western Oregon: Evaluating the Role of Forest Management". Economic Botany. 58 (4): 668–678. doi:10.1663/0013-0001(2004)058[0668:HASCAU]2.0.CO;2. S2CID   38058760.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Postman, Joseph D (July 2004). "An Evergreen Huckleberry Industry near the Oregon Coast Early in the 20th Century". Journal of the American Pomological Society. 58 (3): 147–151. ProQuest   209765363.
  5. 1 2 Tietz, James R.; Johnson, Matthew D. (November 2007). "Stopover Ecology and Habitat Selection of Juvenile Swainson's Thrushes During Fall Migration Along the Northern California Coast". The Condor. 109 (4): 795–807. doi:10.1093/condor/109.4.795. hdl: 2148/157 .
  6. 1 2 3 Hill, Nicholas M.; Kloet, Sam P. Vander (2005). "Longevity of Experimentally Buried Seed in Vaccinium: Relationship to Climate, Reproductive Factors and Natural Seed Banks". Journal of Ecology. 93 (6): 1167–1176. Bibcode:2005JEcol..93.1167H. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2745.2005.01034.x. JSTOR   3599666.
  7. ↑ Lee, Jungmin; Finn, Chad E.; Wrolstad, Ronald E. (November 2004). "Comparison of Anthocyanin Pigment and Other Phenolic Compounds of Vaccinium membranaceum and Vaccinium ovatum Native to the Pacific Northwest of North America". Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. 52 (23): 7039–7044. doi:10.1021/jf049108e. PMID   15537315.

Bibliography

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