Vaccinium parvifolium

Red huckleberry, Red Huckleberry

Family: Ericaceae · Type: shrub · Native

Red huckleberry is a California native shrub found in coastal and northern California regions including the North Coast, Klamath Ranges, and northern Sierra Nevada Mountains in moist, shaded woodland at elevations of 3 to 1,400 meters. Flowering from May to June, this plant produces small green or pink flowers in the axils of its lowest leaves. Growing 1 to 4 meters tall with strongly angled green twigs and an erect form, it has a distinctive rhizomatous root system. Its deciduous leaves are thin and elliptic to ovate, 10 to 25 millimeters long, with slightly serrated edges and prominent veins that are softly hairy underneath. The fruit is a bright red berry approximately 6 to 10 millimeters in diameter, making it easily recognizable in woodland understories.

Habitat: Moist, shaded woodland

Bloom period: May-Jun

Elevation: 3-1400 m

Bioregions: NCo, KR, NCoRO, n&ampc SNH, SnFrB

California counties: San Mateo, Del Norte, Humboldt, Mendocino, Sonoma, Siskiyou, Tuolumne, Mariposa, Napa, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Placer, Nevada, Butte, Plumas, Yuba, Shasta, Trinity

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