Telling the difference between huckleberries and blueberries is like playing a botanical puzzle where more than one piece fits each spot . The difference sometimes depend on geography more than botany . In unlike parts of the U.S. , these unwashed name may come to to dissimilar plant life specie or to one and the same plant . At first look , the works and berry may seem the same , but differences run more than skin deep .
Sorting Through the Mix
blueberry and huckleberries , both sometimes called bilberry , blaeberry or other common public figure , are member of the plant menage Ericaceae and its subfamily Vaccinioideae . From there , blueberry bush and some huckleberries get sorted into different plant life genera , and geography and common epithet enter in . Plants love as huckleberry in the eastern and southeast U.S. belong to the flora genus Gaylussacia . Travel to the northwest , and native huckleberry species fall in the genus Vaccinium , the same genus of blueberries so widely enjoyed . The berries hold the paint to why the unlike botanic name exist .
Domestic Blueberry Features
Blueberries ( Vaccinium spp . ) earn their genus based on their peak ' ovaries . Split in two , the ovary shows five chambers , leading to numerous midget seeds in matured yield . Blueberries vary from other plants in the genus by the mode they comport yield . Blueberries fruit in clusters on wood grow during the late year . The agglomerate growth get to blueberry bush capable of bring forth heavy crops . The two most widely domesticated blueberry species in the U.S. are highbush blueberry bush ( Vaccinium corymbosum ) , which grow in U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zones 3 through 8 , and lowbush blueberry ( genus Vaccinium angustifolium ) , which develop in USDA geographical zone 2 through 6 .
Western Huckleberry Features
Like their blueberry bush brethren , westerly huckleberry ( Vaccinium spp . ) have five chamber in the ovary . The flowers , leave and fruit look like to blueberries , but Western huckleberries produce individual berries rather than cluster where their leaves join the stem , and they bear yield on newfangled shoot . Huckleberries refuse tameness , so they are harvested from the wild . A single plant yield less than a blueberry plant does , but each yield hold intense nip - causing chemicals , nominate it more flavorful . The shameful huckleberry ( Vaccinium membranaceum ) is widely glean for its black , purple or red fruit . shower huckleberries ( Vaccinium deliciosum)have bright blue berries that are , as its species name suggests , delicious . Both develop in USDA zona 4 through 8 .
Eastern Huckleberry Features
Eastern huckleberry ( Gaylussacia spp . ) are indistinguishable in some shipway from their blueberry bush cousins . Their fruit forms in clusters . The flowers , yield and foliage are often mistaken for rabbit - eye blueberry ( Vaccinium ashei ) , a southerly blueberry bush that originate in USDA zones 6 through 10 . But split open an Eastern huckleberry flower ’s ovary and you ’ll find 10 chambers instead of five . This creates large seeds and crunchy , seedy berries . The undersides of Eastern huckleberry leave also carry yellow awkward rosin not found on blueberries or Western huckleberry . The most widely grown species is the black huckleberry ( Gaylussacia baccata ) , which grows in USDA zones 3 through 7 .
Further Identification Complications
assort out Charles Edward Berry differences gets more challenging when vulgar name overlap . The Western dwarf huckleberry ( genus Vaccinium caespitosum ) , which grows in USDA zones 4 through 8 , also goes by the names dwarf blueberry bush , midget bilberry and dwarf bilberry . A huckleberry imposter , cognise as the garden huckleberry ( Solanum melanocerasum ) , rise as an annual like its nightshade - kinsfolk congener , the tomato plant ( Lycopersicon esculentum ) . Not edible until ripe and misrepresent , garden huckleberries are toxic and bitter when raw and unripe . It sneaks into huckleberry treatment ground only on its common name .
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