Vaccinium parvifolium
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| Vaccinium parvifolium | ||||||||||||||
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| Vaccinium parvifolium Sm. |
Red Huckleberry (Vaccinium parvifolium) is a species of Vaccinium native to the Pacific Northwest of North America, where it is common in forests from southeastern Alaska and British Columbia south through Washington and Oregon to central California. It occurs mostly at low elevations, from sea level up to a maximum of 1,820 m altitude.
It is a deciduous shrub growing to 4 m tall with bright green shoots with an angular cross-section. The leaves are ovate to oblong-elliptic, 9-30 mm long and 4-16 mm wide, with an entire margin. The flowers are yellowish-white to pinkish-white, bell-shaped, 4-5 mm long. The fruit is an edible red berry 6-10 mm diameter.
 Newly opened leaves |
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 Leaves and fruit |
Indigenous peoples found the plant and its fruit very useful. 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 slight resemblance to salmon eggs. Berries were also dried for later use. Dried berries were stewed and made into sauces, or mixed with salmon spawn and oil and eaten at winter feasts. The bark of the plant was used as a cold remedy thanks to the therapeutic acid called quinic acid. The leaves were made into tea or smoked. The branches were used as brooms, and the twigs were used to fasten western skunk cabbage leaves into berry baskets.
[edit] References
- Germplasm Resources Information Network: Vaccinium parvifolium
- Jepson Flora Project: Vaccinium parvifolium
- Native American Ethnobotany: Vaccinium parvifolium
- Plants of British Columbia: Vaccinium parvifolium
- USDA: Vaccinium parvifolium
