Vaccinium deliciosum

Cascade bilberry

Family: Ericaceae · Type: shrub · Native

Cascade bilberry is a California native shrub found in the Klamath Ranges, northern Sierra Nevada, and Warner Mountains in alpine meadows and subalpine conifer forests at elevations of 600 to 2,000 meters. Flowering from June to July, this plant produces small pink, spherical flowers less than 6 millimeters long in leaf axils. Growing as a low, matted shrub less than 4 decimeters tall with weakly angled, glaucous twigs that often root at the base, it forms dense ground-covering patches. Its deciduous leaves are obovate to oblanceolate, 1.5 to 3.5 centimeters long, with serrated edges along the upper two-thirds and a blue-glaucous surface. The fruit is a distinctive blue-glaucous berry more than 9 millimeters wide, making it a prized wild edible in alpine environments.

Habitat: Alpine meadows, subalpine conifer forest, near coast

Bloom period: Jun-Jul

Elevation: 600-2000 m

Bioregions: KR, n SNH, Wrn

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.