Vaccinium ovatum

California huckleberry

Family: Ericaceae · Type: shrub · Native

California huckleberry is a native shrub found in coastal and interior regions including northern California coast, Klamath Ranges, central California coast, San Francisco Bay Area, northern Channel Islands, western Transverse Ranges, and Peninsular Ranges at elevations of 3 to 800 meters. Flowering from March to May, this plant produces small, delicate white to pink urn-shaped flowers in dense umbel-like clusters. Growing 5 to 9.5 feet tall with stout, erect stems that are grayish and not rooting, it forms a dense, sturdy shrub. Its evergreen leaves are elliptic to lanceolate, 2 to 5 centimeters long, leathery with serrated edges and sparse dark glandular hairs on the undersides. The fruit is a black, glossy berry 6 to 9 millimeters in diameter, which develops after flowering.

Habitat: Edges, clearings in conifer forest

Bloom period: Mar-May

Elevation: 3-800 m

Bioregions: NCo, KR, NCoRO, CCo, SnFrB, n ChI (Santa Cruz, Santa Rosa islands), WTR, PR (uncommon)

California counties: Humboldt, Santa Cruz, San Mateo, Mendocino, Monterey, Del Norte, San Luis Obispo, Sonoma, Santa Barbara, Mariposa, Marin, San Diego, Alameda, San Francisco, Contra Costa, Napa, Siskiyou, San Benito

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