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HUCKLEBERRIES 



HUCKLEBERRIES 



There seems to have been no attempt to 

 cultivate this species, although its large, sweet 

 berries, borne in great abundance, mark it as 

 promising. The wild plants are easily told by 

 the fruiting habit. The berries are borne at 

 the ends of last year's wood, which is two to 

 four inches long and leafless, giving the plant 

 a bare aspect. The fruit, so borne, can be 

 stripped off by the handful, with no leaves 

 and comparatively few fruits to bother. The 

 fruit ripens in northern Michigan in August. 

 The plant is quickly renewed when blueberry 

 plains are burned over. 



HUCKLEBERRIES 



The huckleberry belongs to the genus Gay- 

 lussacia, plants closely allied to Vaccinium, 

 in which genus they were at one time included, 

 and having much the same aspect. Generic 

 differences for separating the two are found 

 in the structure of the fruit and in the leaves. 

 Species of Vaccinium are four- or five-celled, 

 with many small seeds, while those of Gaylus- 

 sacia are ten-celled and contain ten rather 

 large hard-walled seeds which are really nut- 

 lets. The leaves of Gaylussacia are liberally 

 besprinkled with resinous dots; those of Vac- 

 cinium have no dots. Five species are found 

 in North America, of which four yield fruits 

 much esteemed as they come from wild plants, 

 which give promise of valuable domesticated 

 fruits. 



The huckleberry is not so popular as the 

 blueberry because of the hard seeds, which 

 are objectionable in eating. There is, how- 

 ever, great variation in the size and hardness 

 of the seeds, and under cultivation forms could 

 be selected with fewer, smaller, and softer 

 seeds. Except for the seeds, huckleberries are 

 as pleasantly flavored and as palatable as 

 blueberries; and in spite of the seeds find 

 ready sale in the markets. There are no data 

 upon which to form an opinion as to whether 

 huckleberries will yield readily to cultivation. 

 Presumably, the difficulties of domestication 

 will be no greater than with the blueberry. In 

 the wild, huckleberries respond markedly to 

 environment; the fruits of the several species 

 show great differences in size, color, and flavor 

 in accordance with soil, moisture, light, and 

 individual plants, indicating that the oppor- 

 tunities will be great for improvement by cul- 

 tivation and selection. Like the blueberries, 

 huckleberries grow best in bog or heath and 

 are impatient of lime. 



1. Gaylussacia baccata, Koch. Black Huckleberry. 

 Dwarf shrubs, 2-3 feet in height, erect and rigid, much 

 branched, slightly pubescent and resinous when young. 

 Leaves oval, oblong-ovate or oblong, clammy with resin- 

 ous globules when young, yellowish green above, paler 

 beneath, 1-1% inches long. Flowers in short, one-sided 

 racemes, borne on short pedicels, nodding, reddish, with 

 reddish _ bracts. Fruit black, a white form not uncom- 

 mon, without bloom, sweet and pleasant. 



This species, probably the most common of 

 the huckleberries, ranges from Newfoundland 

 to Manitoba and southward to Kentucky and 

 Georgia. It is an inhabitant of rocky or sandy 



heaths and woodlands, but is not uncommon 

 in swamps. Two botanical varieties are de- 

 scribed: one with blue fruits which are larger, 

 juicier, and covered with bloom; the other 

 bearing a white huckleberry with translucent 

 flesh. The white-fruited form is occasionally 

 abundant and very fruitful. 



The fruit of the black huckleberry is firmer 

 than that of other species, which makes it a 

 better berry for the market; it is not, how- 

 ever, so well-flavored as the dangleberry, to 

 be described next. The pear-shaped huckle- 

 berry, passing under the name "sugar plum," 

 belongs to this species. As with the blue- 

 berries, the plasticity of this species in the wild 

 is certain indication that under cultivation 

 superior varieties could be orginated by selec- 

 tion and hybridization. 



2. Gaylussacia frondosa, Torr. & Gray. Blue Huckle- 

 berry. Dangleberry. Tangleberry. A slender shrub at- 

 taining a height of 6 feet, with smooth spreading branches. 

 Leaves obovate-oblong, blunt or emarginate, pale green 

 above, paler beneath, 1-2 inches long and half as broad. 

 Flowers in slender, loose racemes with rather long slender 

 pedicels ; corolla globular, bell-shaped, greenish purple. 

 Fruit dark blue with heavy bloom, sweet and pleasant. 



The blue huckleberry is found in low copses 

 on moist, peaty soils from New Hampshire 

 to Florida and westward to Ohio and Loui- 

 siana. It is most common along the seaboard. 



The fruit of the blue huckleberry is con- 

 sidered the best flavored of all the several 

 species. The berries are sweet, but have a 

 most agreeable piquancy which gives them, 

 either fresh or cooked, a flavor unsurpassed 

 by any other huckleberry or blueberry. In 

 some regions the bush is not prolific, so that 

 it is difficult to get a large supply of the ber- 

 ries, which are produced in sparse clusters that 

 make picking difficult. The long, slender pedi- 

 cels give the plant the name dangleberry. 

 The blue huckleberry ripens later than the 

 black huckleberry, from which it is easily dis- 

 tinguished by plant and fruit. It is much 

 more adaptable to diverse conditions in the 

 wild than the preceding species, and can prob- 

 ably be more easily domesticated. 



3. Gaylussacia ursina, Torr. & Gray. Bear Huckle- 

 berry. Buckberry. This species is very similar to the 

 preceding, differing in having some pubescence on the 

 branches ; leaves green on both sides, thinner and longer ; 

 flowers white or pinkish ; and fruits black and shining ; 

 and having a more restricted range, being found in woods 

 from Kentucky to Georgia and North Carolina. 



The botanies speak of the berries of this 

 species as insipid, but they are much used by 

 the mountaineers in the region in which the 

 plants grow for culinary purposes, and are 

 said to have a peculiar flavor unlike that of 

 any other blueberry or huckleberry. In the 

 amelioration of huckleberries for the garden, 

 this species might prove valuable for hybrid- 

 ization. Bears and deer feed on the ripened 

 fruits, hence the two common names. 



4. Gaylussacia dumosa, Torr. & Gray. Dwarf Huckle- 

 berry. Dwarf shrub, 2 feet high, more or less hairy and 

 glandular, from a Creeping stem. Leaves obovate-oblong, 

 mucronate, green on both sides, shining above, thick and 

 leathery with age, 1-2 inches long, half as broad. Flow- 



