Flora of North America species comparison

The green links below add additional plants to the comparison table. Blue links lead to other Web sites.
enable glossary links

Vaccinium deliciosum

Vaccinium membranaceum

blue-leaf huckleberry, Cascade bilberry, Cascade blueberry, Cascade huckleberry, Cascades blueberry, Rainier blueberry

big huckleberry, black blueberry, black huckleberry, mountain huckleberry, square-twig blueberry, tall huckleberry, thin-leaf huckleberry
Habit Plants forming small clumps to extensive open colonies, 0.5–15 dm, rhizomatous; twigs green, sometimes glaucous, ± terete, rarely angled, usually glabrous, rarely hairy along veins or puberulent. Plants forming small to extensive clumps, rarely crown-forming, 2–30 dm, not rhizomatous; twigs of current season yellow-green or reddish green, terete to slightly angled, glabrous or hairy in lines.
Leaf

blades usually glaucous, obovate, oblanceolate, or, rarely, elliptic, 17–35 × 9–17 mm, margins usually serrate for at least distal 2/3, surfaces usually glabrous, eglandular or, rarely, glandular throughout, often glandular-hairy along midvein.

blades usually green, broadly elliptic to ovate, 25–50 × 11–23 mm, margins sharply serrate, surfaces glandular abaxially.
Flowers

calyx glaucous, lobes indistinct or shallow, glabrous;

corolla pink, creamy pink, or red, globose to globular-urceolate, 4–6 × 5–7 mm, thin, glaucous;

filaments glabrous.

calyx green, obscurely lobed, glabrous;

corolla white, cream, yellowish pink, or bronze, globose to urceolate, 3–5 × 5–7 mm, thin, glaucous;

filaments glabrous.
Berries

usually blue, glaucous, sometimes dull black, maroon, or red, 9–13 mm diam.

shiny or dull black or deep purple, rarely red or white, 9–13 mm diam.
Seeds

ca. 1 mm.

ca. 1 mm.
2n

= 48.

= 48.

Vaccinium deliciosum

Vaccinium membranaceum
Phenology Flowering late spring–early summer. Flowering late spring–early summer.
Habitat Alpine meadows, subalpine coniferous woods, talus slopes Coniferous woods, especially cut-over stands, talus slopes, subalpine fir forests, alpine heaths
Elevation 600-2000 m [2000-6600 ft] 900-3500 m [3000-11500 ft]
Distribution
map from FNA
CA; ID; OR; WA; BC
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
map from FNA
AZ; CA; CO; ID; MI; MT; OR; SD; UT; WA; WY; AB; BC; ON
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Vaccinium deliciosum produces especially flavorful berries. Research at the University of Idaho and Washington State University identified 31 aromatic flavor compounds in the fruits. Despite its outstanding flavor and large fruit size, it is harvested less than is V. membranaceum because it has a smaller range and is less abundant there than its black-fruited congener. Also, like V. membranaceum, V. deliciosum is native at higher elevations and can be difficult to grow at low elevations. Although rhizomatous, V. deliciosum has a dense root system and transplants easily.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Vaccinium membranaceum is, by far, the most widely commercially utilized western huckleberry for fruit and is harvested extensively from the wild. This species served as an especially important source of food for native peoples throughout western North America, and the dried berries were used for winter food and trade.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Parent taxa Ericaceae > subfam. Vaccinioideae > Vaccinium > sect. Myrtillus Ericaceae > subfam. Vaccinioideae > Vaccinium > sect. Myrtillus
Sibling taxa
V. angustifolium, V. arboreum, V. boreale, V. cespitosum, V. corymbosum, V. crassifolium, V. darrowii, V. erythrocarpum, V. hirsutum, V. macrocarpon, V. membranaceum, V. myrsinites, V. myrtilloides, V. myrtillus, V. ovalifolium, V. ovatum, V. oxycoccos, V. pallidum, V. parvifolium, V. scoparium, V. stamineum, V. tenellum, V. uliginosum, V. vitis-idaea
V. angustifolium, V. arboreum, V. boreale, V. cespitosum, V. corymbosum, V. crassifolium, V. darrowii, V. deliciosum, V. erythrocarpum, V. hirsutum, V. macrocarpon, V. myrsinites, V. myrtilloides, V. myrtillus, V. ovalifolium, V. ovatum, V. oxycoccos, V. pallidum, V. parvifolium, V. scoparium, V. stamineum, V. tenellum, V. uliginosum, V. vitis-idaea
Synonyms V. coccineum, V. globulare, V. membranaceum var. rigidum
Name authority Piper: Mazama 2: 103. 1901 , Douglas ex Torrey: in C. Wilkes et al., U.S. Expl. Exped. 17: 377. (1874)
Source FNA vol. 8, p. 523. Treatment author: Sam P. Vander Kloet. FNA vol. 8, p. 523. Treatment author: Sam P. Vander Kloet.
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



Type/paste one or more Latin names into the boxes above; matching taxa will show up below the box as you type. You can use the up/down arrow keys to move through the list.

(If the plant you're looking for doesn't show up in the auto-complete list, that means it either isn't described in Flora of North America yet, or it's listed under a synonym. And please note that Flora of North America is still missing several plant families, including Boraginaceae and Polemoniaceae.)

The species comparison tool is brought to you by:
Northwest Wildflowers