Evergreen huckleberry facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Evergreen huckleberry |
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V. ovatum
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| Vaccinium ovatum Pursh 1813
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Vaccinium ovatum is a cool plant from North America. It's often called the evergreen huckleberry. You might also hear it called the winter huckleberry or California huckleberry. This plant is a type of shrub that stays green all year round.
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Where the Evergreen Huckleberry Grows
The evergreen huckleberry is a small to medium-sized evergreen shrub. It naturally grows along the Pacific Coast of the United States. You can also find it in coastal British Columbia in Canada.
This huckleberry often grows near other plants. Some of its plant friends include the western sword fern (Polystichum munitum) and coastal woodfern (Dryopteris arguta). You might also see it with California snowberry (Symphoricarpos mollis), common snowberry (Symphoricarpos albus), and thimbleberry (Rubus parviflorus). Sometimes, it even sprouts from old, fallen logs, called nurse logs. It often grows alongside the red huckleberry (Vaccinium parvifolium).
What the Evergreen Huckleberry Looks Like
The evergreen huckleberry is a true huckleberry plant. It can grow well in both shady and sunny spots. It loves acidic soil, which is soil that's a bit sour. Since it doesn't need a lot of sun, you can find it in many different forest homes. It often grows out of old coast redwood tree stumps. You might also see it among thick brambles of other forest plants.
The leaves of this plant are shiny and shaped like an egg. They are about 2 to 3 centimeters (0.8–1.2 inches) long. They are also about 1 centimeter (0.4 inches) wide. The edges of the leaves have small, fine teeth.
Berries and Their Life Cycle
During the summer, the plant grows round, black berries. These berries are edible, meaning you can eat them! They can be up to 1 centimeter (0.4 inches) across. What's cool is that these berries can stay on the branches until the middle of winter. Birds and other animals love to eat these berries throughout the autumn.
How People Use Evergreen Huckleberries
Eating the Berries
For a long time, many Native American tribes along the Pacific coast collected huckleberries. The Karok tribe was one of them. The berries are super tasty when eaten fresh. They are similar to blueberries but often sweeter and have a stronger flavor. People love to use them to make jams and jellies.
Meriwether Lewis, a famous explorer, wrote about how Native people ate these berries. They ate them fresh, dried them, and even baked them into bread. This helped them save the fruit to eat later in the year.
Growing Huckleberries in Gardens
Vaccinium ovatum is also grown as an ornamental plant. This means people grow it because it looks nice. Special plant nurseries sell them for gardens and parks. This huckleberry plant works well in natural landscapes. It's also great for habitat gardens, which help local wildlife. You can find it in projects that aim to restore natural areas. These projects try to make places look like their original habitat conditions.
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