Map Snapshot
164 Records
Status
Black Huckleberry occurs throughout eastern North America. It is common across Maryland.
Description
This low-growing shrub is often colonial and rhizomatous. It is easily identified from other blueberries and huckleberries by having resinous dots on both sides of the leaves. Leaf margins are entire and ciliate. The twigs are slender and pinkish red. Leaf buds are small and reddish. Flower buds are larger than leaf buds and are sprinkled with resin globules. The flowers are more slender than those of blueberries and more reddish. Bloom time is May-June. Fruits are black and shiny, not glaucous. Foliage turns red in autumn.
Where To Find
Dry forests.
Relationships
Host plant for various moth species including Wavy-lined Emerald Moth, Coleophora gaylussaciella, Chain-dotted Geometer, Evergreen Bagworm Moth, Huckleberry Sphinx, Blueberry Leaftier Moth, Ancylis apicana, and Olethreutes baccatana (Database of World's Lepidopteran Host Plants).
Seasonality Snapshot
Source: Wikipedia
| Black huckleberry | |
|---|---|
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Scientific classification 
| |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Clade: | Asterids |
| Order: | Ericales |
| Family: | Ericaceae |
| Genus: | Gaylussacia |
| Species: | G. baccata
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| Binomial name | |
| Gaylussacia baccata | |
| Synonyms[1] | |
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List
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Gaylussacia baccata, the black huckleberry, is a common huckleberry found throughout a wide area of eastern North America.
Description
[edit]Gaylussacia baccata is a shrub up to 150 cm (5 feet) tall, forming extensive colonies. Flowers are in dangling groups of 3–7, orange or red, bell-shaped. The berries are dark blue, almost black, rarely white.[2]
Similar species
[edit]The plant closely resembles the native blueberry plants (Vaccinium species) with which it grows in the same habitats. It can be readily identified by the numerous resin dots on the undersides of the leaves which glitter when held up to the light.
Distribution
[edit]The plant is native to Eastern Canada and the Great Lakes region, the Midwestern and Northeastern United States, and the Appalachian Mountains, the Ohio/Mississippi/Tennessee Valley, and Southeastern United States. The range extends from Newfoundland west to Manitoba and Minnesota, south as far as Arkansas, Alabama, and Georgia.[3]
Ecology
[edit]The shrub is considered fire-resistant due to surviving rhizomes quickly sending out new shoots following fires.[4]
It is a larval host to the brown elfin, Gordian sphinx, Henry's elfin, and huckleberry sphinx.[5]
Uses
[edit]The berries are sweet and tasty. People eat them raw, jellied, or baked into pancakes, muffins, and many other items.[6]: 39
See also
[edit]- Vaccinium membranaceum — with "black huckleberry" as common name also.
References
[edit]- ^ "Gaylussacia baccata". World Checklist of Selected Plant Families. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew – via The Plant List. Note that this website has been superseded by World Flora Online
- ^ Sorrie, Bruce A.; Weakley, Alan S.; Tucker, Gordon C. (2009). "Gaylussacia baccata". In Flora of North America Editorial Committee (ed.). Flora of North America North of Mexico (FNA). Vol. 8. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press – via eFloras.org, Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis, MO & Harvard University Herbaria, Cambridge, MA.
- ^ "Gaylussacia baccata". State-level distribution map from the North American Plant Atlas (NAPA). Biota of North America Program (BONAP). 2014.
- ^ Matlack, Glenn R. (1997). "Resource Allocation among Clonal Shoots of the Fire-Tolerant Shrub Gaylussacia baccata". Oikos. 80 (3): 509–518. doi:10.2307/3546624. ISSN 0030-1299.
- ^ The Xerces Society (2016), Gardening for Butterflies: How You Can Attract and Protect Beautiful, Beneficial Insects, Timber Press.
- ^ Gibbons, Euell (1962). Stalking the Wild Asparagus. New York: David McKay. pp. xiii+303. ISBN 978-0-911469-03-5. OCLC 16227916.
External links
[edit]
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