JARS v64n4 - Northwest America Vaccinium

Northwest America Vaccinium
Dalen Bayes
Sumas, Washington
Modified from the The Yak, April 2009, newsletter of the Fraser South ARS Chapter

The genus Vaccinium , which belongs to the family Ericaceae, has over 400 species occurring around the world. The heaviest concentration of vacciniums is in the Malaysian region. In NW America we have around 25 species. What follows is a description of three of my favorite native species. My selection is based in great part on their availability to me for personal consumption, plus the brightly colored meadows and hillsides resulting from their fall color.

Almost anyone who lives in the lowlands west of the Cascades and Coast Range has seen, if not grazed upon, our local red huckleberry - Vaccinium parvifolium . It is most often found on rotting logs or stumps, usually along the edge of forests and streams. It can grow in shady areas, but when it does, it has fewer berries and is rather straggly.

Vaccinium parvifolium usually grows 1.8–2.4 m (6'–8') in height but can reach 20'. When grown in sun it is a shrub with many trunks. One that grows at the corner of our house is 3 m (10') high and nearly as wide, with many trunks up to 5 cm (2") in diameter. The branches are sharply angled. The leaves are 13–25 mm (0.5–1") in length, nearly as wide, and oval in shape. The flowers occur in leaf axils and are not particularly showy, being 7 mm (0.25") or less in size and a light cream to pinkish in color. The berries are up to 13 mm (0.5") in size with a striking light red color, ripening in late June and then lasting for up to two months. The berries are tart with a pleasing taste. They can be eaten fresh or made into preserves. Overall, V. parvifolium can make a nice garden plant with its almost lacy look, red edible berries and pleasing fall color. It has an attractive winter appearance with last year's branches laced with new red buds.

Most often seen growing out of "nurse" logs, it should have a considerable amount of rotten wood mixed into the soil, or preferably planted over a piece of firewood that will supply it with the bacteria it needs for years. It prefers a well draining soil that holds moisture, but once established it is quite drought resistant. It needs an acid soil, (pH of 4.0–6.0) and resents any lime. The Native Americans made good use of V. parvifolium , eating it fresh as well as drying it for later use. They also made use of the berry's resemblance to salmon eggs to attract fish. The berries are eaten by bears, elk, deer and other small mammals and birds.

Vaccinium membranaceum occurs in western North America and around the Great Lakes. Its common names are mountain huckleberry, black huckleberry, and thin-leafed huckleberry. It prefers elevations from 900–1800 m (3000–6000') in our area. It is often the major shrub in the more open lower subalpine areas; with more shade, less fruit is produced. V. membranaceum forms clumps of twiggy growth and reaches heights of 0.3–1.8 m (1–6'). The shorter of these heights is typical of the higher elevations. Leaves are 13-25 mm (0.5"- 1") in length, elliptic in shape and bright green until fall, when they turn orange, purple, and red. Flowers are 7 mm (0.25") long, solitary and borne singly in leaf axils. They are urn shaped and are greenish-white to pinkish-white in color. The flowers blossom in May and June and are followed by berries in September. The berries are reddish purple to black in color and 7-13 mm (0.25-0.5") or slightly more in size. The berries are slightly acid but very favorable in taste. It doesn't like its roots disturbed, so leave it the pot until it is planted out in a permanent spot. It likes a free draining soil that contains organic material. Once established, it is quite drought resistant.

Vaccinium deliciosum is our most common subalpine and alpine huckleberry. It goes by a multitude of common names: dwarf blueberry, alpine blueberry, cascade bilberry and numerous others. Its geographic range is from central Oregon to southern B.C. colonies. The flowers form in leaf axils and are solitary with a creamy color. They are followed by delicious (hence its scientific name) blue-black berries with a pale bloom, up to 8 mm (0.33") in diameter. The leaves are 13-25 mm (0.5"- 1") in length with serrations on upper half of the leaves Many hikes and climbs that my wife Lori and I have gone on have been delayed by these berries. The berries were extensively used by the native peoples. They are a very important food source for bears. The survival of cubs and the fertility rate in females falls after a poor blueberry year.

All of our local Vaccinium , seven in number, are in the Section Myrtillus, which have their flowers and resulting berries formed in leaf axils. There is now a movement in the scientific community to consider them all to be huckleberries, while the term "blueberries" is reserved for vacciniums that grow their berries on racemes from last year's growth.

Our local commercial blueberries bear their fruit on racemes, resulting in clumps of berries which are more productive and easier to pick mechanically. These high bush commercial blueberries are mainly derived from V. corymbosum , which is native to the east, occurring from Quebec and Nova Scotia to Michigan and Illinois. Its range also occurs eastward to the coast and as far south as North Carolina.

Vaccinium parvifolium is the classic "huckleberry" of our childhood for anyone who grew up in the Pacific Northwest. Clear in this illustration is the single fruit growing from each leaf axil, making a decent harvest of huckleberries a long and exceedingly tedious process. Picking each berry and putting it in your bucket seemed absurd, but trying to gather a few of them together by plucking them off one at a time with thumb and forefinger while keeping the others loosely grasped in the palm of your hand with your other fingers, invariably resulted in too many of them rolling down your wrist and being lost in the undergrowth. Other techniques include spreading a blanket or towels on the ground and then "combing" the huckleberries off with your fingers, or, my personal favourite now that we enjoy an almost endless supply on our wooded mountainside, simply pruning off a well-laden branch and taking it into the kitchen sink, where the berries can be stripped from the branch and cleaned and sorted, with a minimum of frustration.

Dalen Bayes is a member of the Komo Kulshan ARS Chapter.