Huckleberries (two species -- Vaccinium membranaceum and Vaccinium ovatum)

a close relative of the blueberry

Review of Rare Berries

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• Saskatoon
• Norton grape
• Yumberry
• Cape Gooseberry
• Other Gooseberries
• Aronia
• Blackcurrant
• Elderberry
• Seaberry
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Huckleberries in Recent News

Bog huckleberries, Nova Scotia

Huckleberry Facts

• huckleberry (Vaccinium membranaceum and Vaccinium ovatum) is a name used in North America for several wild berry plants in Vaccinium (same genus as blueberries, cranberries and lingonberries)

• in the Pacific Northwest of North America, huckleberries are found in mid-alpine regions, often on the lower slopes of mountains

• huckleberry grows best in damp, acidic soil. Under optimal conditions, huckleberries can be as much as 1.5-2 m (about 5-6.5 feet) high

• usually ripen in mid-to-late summer; later at higher elevations

• was the nickname of a fictional character -- Huckleberry Finn -- in the books on Tom Sawyer by US humorist, Mark Twain (1835-1910)

Research on Huckleberries

• Lee J, Finn CE, Wrolstad RE. Department of Food Science, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon 97331

Comparison of anthocyanin pigment and other phenolic compounds in two species of huckleberries. J Agric Food Chem. 2004 Nov 17;52(23):7039-44.

• Vaccinium ovatum had greater total anthocyanins, total phenolics, oxygen radical absorbing capacity (ORAC), and ferric reducing antioxidant potential (FRAP) than did V. membranaceum

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• Yang S, Bishop JG, Webster MS. School of Biological Sciences, Washington State University, Pullman, WA 99164

Colonization genetics of an animal-dispersed plant (Vaccinium membranaceum) at Mt St Helens, Washington. Mol Ecol. 2008 Feb;17(3):731-40.

• recently founded population of the animal-dispersed Vaccinium membranaceum (black huckleberry) on new volcanic deposits at Mount St Helens (Washington, USA) 24 years post-eruption

• founders were derived from many sources, about half originated from a small number of plants that survived the 1980 eruption in pockets of remnant soil

• dispersal abilities include colonizing new habitats without significant reduction in genetic diversity

• take-home message: huckleberries were eaten by animal or bird foragers and their seeds dropped in small pockets of remnant soils on the slopes of Mount St. Helens, recolonizing huckleberry bushes distant from their origins 24 years after the volcanic eruption. Half the huckleberry population actually regerminated from seeds that survived the debris avalanche when the volcano erupted on May 18, 1980.