The Red Huckleberry (Vaccinium parvifolium)

Why I am choosing Red Huckleberry as my second blog’s topic is because I have spent most of my CBLR hours planting this species. The Red Huckleberry can be easily found in Washington State. I wasn’t just work in the same location for my CBLR project, but I still can see this red huckleberry around. You can also find it in the UWB campus.

This is the small plant of the red huckleberry.

According to the NaiveplantPNW,"the Red Huckleberry is found along the Pacific Coast from southeast Alaska to central California. Mostly in the lowland forests west of the Cascades in British Columbia, Washington, and Oregon; the California coast, and the Sierra Nevadas.  It is the most common Vaccinium in the Oregon coast mountain ranges." This plant can grow slowly up to 12 ft, and usually is just growing to 3 - 6 ft. It can be easily found growing on top of decaying logs and stumps in open to fairly dense coniferous forests. The picture on the left that showed the red huckleberry didn't look that tall, and it is because it is just a small baby plant.

Bigger plant of red huckleberry

This is how it is normally look like, and it is much taller than the first picture. So what can I tell about red huckleberry from this picture? We can talking the leaves. The leaf arrangements is alternate. Leaf types are simple. Leaf shapes are elliptic. Leaf margins are entire. And the leaf attachments are sessile. I guess many of you will start questioning how could I determining this plant is red huckleberry just by looking at the leaves like the picture showed. Actually I did’t realize this is the red huckleberry when I took this picture, then I asked the other volunteer, and she said this is the red huckleberry.

Fruit ripens of the red huckleberry

For the red huckleberry, of course I have to talk about the fruit which are the berries. This picture on the right is the view that I saw the red huckleberry in the UW Bothell campus for my first time. With this image, I think it is easy to tell this is the red huckleberry. Unfortunately, I could see any fruit on the plant during the CBLR project, and it is because the fruit ripens month is from July to August. The berries are bright and red on the bushes like a Christmas decoration. You probably don't want to miss them. I have also heard that those berries taste really good. :)