Blue Huckleberry

More info for the term: shrub

blue huckleberry
dangleberry
hairy dangleberry


TAXONOMY:
The scientific name of blue huckleberry is Gaylussacia
frondosa (L.) T. & G. (Ericaceae) [13,26].

The following three varieties are recognized:

Gaylussacia frondosa var. frondosa
Gaylussacia frondosa var. tomentosa Gray [5,6,14,15]
Gaylussacia frondosa var. nana Gray [5,14,15]

Wunderlin [36] considers the two nontypic varieties to be separate species.

Gaylussacia f. var. tomentosa is distinguished by densely short-pubescent twigs
and lower leaf surfaces. Gaylussacia f. var. nana is distinguished by its
shorter stature, shorter branches, and columnar aspect, as well as
short-pubescent stems [15].


LIFE FORM:
Shrub

FEDERAL LEGAL STATUS:
No special status

OTHER STATUS:
NO-ENTRY





DISTRIBUTION AND OCCURRENCE
SPECIES: Gaylussacia frondosa
GENERAL DISTRIBUTION:
Blue huckleberry occurs in the eastern United States. The range of the
typical variety extends from New York, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire
south along the Atlantic Coastal Plain to South Carolina [15]. Although
blue huckleberry occurs primarily east of the Appalachian Mountains, it has
been reported in Ohio, Tennessee, and West Virginia [3,13]. Gaylussacia
frondosa var. tomentosa occurs from South Carolina to central Florida
and west to Alabama [14,26]. The range of G. f. var. nana extends from
southern Georgia south to central Florida, and west to Mississippi and
possibly Louisiana [15].

Blue huckleberry occurs in the eastern United States. The range of the
typical variety extends from New York, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire
south along the Atlantic Coastal Plain to South Carolina [15]. Although
blue huckleberry occurs primarily east of the Appalachian Mountains, it has
been reported in Ohio, Tennessee, and West Virginia [3,13]. Gaylussacia
frondosa var. tomentosa occurs from South Carolina to central Florida
and west to Alabama [14,26]. The range of G. f. var. nana extends from
southern Georgia south to central Florida, and west to Mississippi and
possibly Louisiana [15].



Distribution of blue huckleberry. Map courtesy of USDA, NRCS. 2018. The PLANTS Database.
National Plant Data Team, Greensboro, NC [2018, July 11] [32].

More info for the terms: fire interval, forest, fruit, fuel, prescribed fire, shrub

In the North Carolina Coastal Plain, the fuel load was 17.3 tons per
acre for a tall shrub community averaging 8 feet (2.4 m) in height.
Blue huckleberry contributed 10 percent of the total fuel load [34].

In frequently burned 16- to 30-year-old slash pine forests in
southeastern Georgia, blue huckleberry attained peak production 3 years after
prescribed burning. It produced no fruit the first postfire year, 32
grams of fruit per 100 square meters the second year, and 104.4 grams of
fruit per 100 square meters the third year, accounting for 23 percent of
the total fruit production in the forests during the third postfire
growing season. Blue huckleberry fruit production decreased substantially
the fourth postfire year. The authors conclude that prescribed fire at
3-year intervals optimizes blue huckleberry and other forest species fruit
production, but longer intervals (more than 5 years) allow less
fire-tolerant mast-producing species to mature as well [16]. Because
Buell and Cantlon [4] showed that blue huckleberry declines at fire intervals
of 5 years or less, a prescribed fire interval longer than 5 years is
probably best for long-term blue huckleberry fruit production.

In a longleaf pine forest in Florida, fire during the growing season
synchronized the postfire flower production of understory species
including blue huckleberry [25].

More info for the terms: shrub, shrubs, swamp

Blue huckleberry is a common but rarely dominant shrub in the Atlantic and
Gulf coastal plains [12]. It occurs in dry and moist woods,
particularly in pine (Pinus spp.) flatwoods [7].

Blue huckleberry frequently occurs with other ericaceous shrubs including
highbush cranberry (Vaccinium corymbosum), hillside blueberry (V.
pallidum), Lyonia spp., sheep-laurel (Kalmia angustifolia), wintergreen
(Gaultheria procumbens), dwarf huckleberry (Gaylussacia dumosa), and
black huckleberry (G. baccata) [9,17,28,31].

At swamp and drainage margins, blue huckleberry is associated with red maple
(Acer rubrum), southern bayberry (Myrica cerifera), sweetbay (Magnolia
virginiana), sweet pepperbush (Clethra alnifolia), redbay (Persea
borbonia), loblolly bay (Gordonia lasianthus), fetterbush (Leucothoe
racemosa), and Sphagnum spp. [8,9,18,34].

In longleaf pine (Pinus palustris) and slash pine (P. elliottii)
communities, blue huckleberry occurs with bitter gallberry (Ilex glabra),
wiregrass (Aristida stricta), and saw-palmetto (Serenoa repens)
[18,28,31].

Blue huckleberry is listed as a dominant species in the following
publications:

1. The phytosociology of the Green Swamp, North Carolina [18]
2. The ecology of southeastern shrub bogs (pocosins) and Carolina bays:
a community profile [28]

More info for the term: shrub

Shrub

More info for the term: shrub

Ehrenfeld [7] determined shrub biomass and nitrogen concentrations of
blue huckleberry foliage from the New Jersey pine barrens. Blue huckleberry
produces small stems but abundant leaves, so it has low shrub biomass
but high net biomass production [7,8].

Regression equations for predicting blue huckleberry biomass which relate
stem diameter to dry weight are available [8].

More info on this topic.

Blue huckleberry flowers March through May, and fruits mature July through
August [26,35].

More info for the terms: fire regime, rhizome, shrub

Rhizomatous shrub, rhizome in soil


FIRE REGIMES:
Find fire regime information for the plant communities in
which this species may occur by entering the species name in the FEIS home page under "Find FIRE REGIMES".

The scientific name of blue huckleberry is Gaylussacia
frondosa (L.) T. & G. (Ericaceae) [13,26].

The following three varieties are recognized:

Gaylussacia frondosa var. frondosa
Gaylussacia frondosa var. tomentosa Gray [5,6,14,15]
Gaylussacia frondosa var. nana Gray [5,14,15]

Wunderlin [36] considers the two nontypic varieties to be separate species.

Gaylussacia f. var. tomentosa is distinguished by densely short-pubescent twigs
and lower leaf surfaces. Gaylussacia f. var. nana is distinguished by its
shorter stature, shorter branches, and columnar aspect, as well as
short-pubescent stems [15].

Gaylussacia frondosa is a species of flowering plant in the heath family known by the common names dangleberry and blue huckleberry. It is native to the eastern United States, where it occurs from New Hampshire to South Carolina.

This shrub grows up to two meters (80 inches) tall. The plant spreads via rhizome, sprouting up new stems to form colonies. The leaves are up to 6 centimeters (2.4 inches) long by 3 cm (1.2 inches) wide. They are hairy and glandular. The inflorescence contains 1 to 4 flowers that hang on pedicels up to 2 centimeters (0.8 inch) long. The flower is bell-shaped and greenish white. The fruit is a juicy, sweet-tasting drupe which is usually blue but may be black or white.

This plant grows on the Atlantic coastal plain. It grows in wooded areas and next to bogs and swamps. It is common in the pine barrens of New Jersey. It grows on acidic soils low in nutrients. It grows with other related plants such as highbush blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum), hillside blueberry (V. pallidum), Lyonia spp., sheep-laurel (Kalmia angustifolia), wintergreen (Gaultheria procumbens), dwarf huckleberry (Gaylussacia dumosa), and black huckleberry (G. baccata).

Many animals eat the berries and disperse the seeds.