| Vaccinium parvifolium | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Fruit and leaves in Issaquah, Washington | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Clade: | Asterids |
| Order: | Ericales |
| Family: | Ericaceae |
| Genus: | Vaccinium |
| Species: | V. parvifolium |
| Binomial name | |
| Vaccinium parvifolium | |
Vaccinium parvifolium, the red huckleberry, is a species of Vaccinium native to western North America.
It is a deciduous shrub growing to 4 metres (13 feet) tall with bright green shoots with an angular cross-section. The leaves are ovate to oblong-elliptic, 9 to 30 millimetres (1⁄4 to 1+1⁄4 inches) long, and 4 to 16 mm (1⁄8 to 5⁄8 in) wide, with an entire margin. [1]
The flowers are yellow-white to pinkish-white with pink, decumbent bell-shaped 4 to 5 mm (3⁄16 to 3⁄16 in) long. [1]
The fruit is an edible red to orange berry 6 to 10 mm (1⁄4 to 3⁄8 in) in diameter. [1] Cytology is 2n = 24.
It is common in forests from southeastern Alaska and British Columbia south through western Washington and Oregon to central California.
In the Oregon Coast Range, it is the most common Vaccinium . [2] It grows in moist, shaded woodlands. [3]
Birds, bears, and small mammals eat the berries. Deer and some livestock forage the foliage. [4]
The species is cultivated in the specialty horticulture trade with limited availability as an ornamental plant: for natural landscaping, native plant, and habitat gardens; wildlife gardens; and restoration projects. [5] [6] Another cultivated species of similar size and habitats is the evergreen Vaccinium ovatum (evergreen huckleberry).
As a crop plant (along with the other huckleberries of the genus in western North America), it is not currently grown on a large commercial agriculture scale, despite efforts to make this possible. [7] It requires acidic soil (pH of 4.5 to 6) and does not tolerate root disturbance. [8]
Indigenous peoples of North America—including the Bear River Band, Karok, and Pomo tribes [9] —found the plant and its fruit very useful. [1] The bright red, acidic berries were used extensively for food throughout the year. Fresh berries were eaten in large quantities, or used for fish bait because of the resemblance to salmon eggs. Berries were also dried for later use. Dried berries were stewed and made into sauces, or mixed with salmon roe and oil to eat at winter feasts. [1]
The bark or leaves of the plant were brewed for a bitter cold remedy, made as tea or smoked. [1] The branches were used as brooms, and the twigs were used to fasten western skunk cabbage leaves into berry baskets.
Huckleberries can be eaten fresh or dried or prepared as a tea or jelly. [1] [8]
Vaccinium vitis-idaea, the lingonberry, partridgeberry, mountain cranberry or cowberry, is a small evergreen shrub in the heath family Ericaceae. It is native to boreal forest and Arctic tundra throughout the Northern Hemisphere, including Eurasia and North America. Commercially cultivated in the United States Pacific Northwest and the Netherlands, the edible berries are also picked in the wild and used in various dishes, especially in Nordic cuisine.
Berberis aquifolium, the Oregon grape or holly-leaved barberry, is a species of flowering plant in the family Berberidaceae, native to western North America. It is an evergreen shrub growing 1–3 meters tall and 1.5 m (5 ft) wide, with pinnate leaves consisting of spiny leaflets, and dense clusters of yellow flowers in early spring, followed by dark bluish-black berries.
Amelanchier alnifolia, the saskatoon berry, Pacific serviceberry, western serviceberry, western shadbush, or western juneberry, is a shrub native to North America. It is a member of the rose family, and bears an edible berry-like fruit.
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.
Juniperus osteosperma is a shrub or small tree native to the southwestern United States.
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.
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.
Vaccinium myrtilloides is a North American shrub with common names including common blueberry, velvetleaf huckleberry, velvetleaf blueberry, Canadian blueberry, and sourtop blueberry.
Berberis vulgaris, also known as common barberry, European barberry or simply barberry, is a shrub in the genus Berberis native to the Old World. It produces edible but sharply acidic berries, which people in many countries eat as a tart and refreshing fruit.
Ribes sanguineum, the flowering currant, redflower currant, red-flowering currant, or red currant is a North American species of flowering plant in the family Grossulariaceae, native to the western United States and Canada.
Vaccinium darrowii, with the common names Darrow's blueberry, evergreen blueberry, scrub blueberry, is a species of Vaccinium in the blueberry group.
Vaccinium uliginosum is a Eurasian and North American flowering plant in the heath family Ericaceae.
Vaccinium ovatum is a North American species of huckleberry in the heather family commonly known as the evergreen huckleberry, winter huckleberry, cynamoka berry and California huckleberry. It has a large distribution on the Pacific Coast of North America ranging from southern British Columbia to southern California. It is a tall woody shrub that produces fleshy, edible berries in the summer. The plant is used for food, natural landscaping, and floral arrangements.
Blueberry is 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. Commercial blueberries—both wild (lowbush) and cultivated (highbush)—are all native to North America. The highbush varieties were introduced into Europe during the 1930s.
Huckleberry is a name used in North America for several plants in the family Ericaceae, in two closely related genera: Vaccinium and Gaylussacia.
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 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".
Vaccinium scoparium is a species of huckleberry known by the common names grouse whortleberry, grouseberry, and littleleaf huckleberry.
Sambucus cerulea or Sambucus nigra ssp. cerulea, with the common names blue elderberry and blue elder, is a coarse textured shrub species of elder in the family Adoxaceae.
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.
