Ericaceae: Gaylussacia baccata (Wangenh.) K. Koch
(black huckleberry)
There are 9 species in the genus Gaylussacia (huckleberries) in North America, two in Nova Scotia: G. baccata (black huckleberry) and G. dumosa (dwarf huckleberry). Both are are deciduous woody shrubs with 5 parted flowers and a berry-like drupe containing 8 to10 seed-like nutlets. The leaves are simple, entire and resin-dotted. The more common G. baccata has eliiptic, pointed or blunt-tipped leaves. Reddish flowers, longer than broad, are borne on short, one-sided racemes. In Nova Scotia, flowers appear in June and early July. The fruit is smooth, black or bluish colored and sweet. Black huckelberry grows to a meter or more in height. It is very common on barrens, rocky pasture, edges of dry woods, sandy lakeshore and in drier bog areas. Leaves turn brght red in the fall and remain after leaves of most shrubs and trees have fallen, giving a final flush of red to huckleberry landscapes. G. baccata occurs in eastern North America from Newfoundland west to Saskatechewan and south to Georgia and Alabama and Missouri. It is secure in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and PEI, vulnerable or imperilled in Quebec and some states, not ranked in others.
Sources | Selected Web Resources | Line Drawing
Click on images for larger versions.
|
Feb. 11, 2009. Halifax County: Barrens above Cranberry Lake on the Bluff Trail. Photographer: JackPine.
|
Young twigs have a velvety texture, pink to red in colour, with red-scaled buds. |
|
 |
|
|
Feb. 11, 2008. Halifax County: Indian Harbour barrens. Photographer: JackPine.
|
|
|
|
June 22, 2006. Halifax County: Polly's Cove barrens & bogs. Photographer: JackPine.
|
|
|
|
 Bar is 1 cm. |
|
Jul. 8, 2005. Halifax County: Polly's Cove barrens & bogs. Photographer: JackPine.
|
|
|
|
|
Aug.19, 2005 Halifax County: Polly's Cove barrens & bogs. Photographer: JackPine.
|
Units in photo at right are 1 mm.
|
|
G. baccata (left) and G. dumosa (right), upper leaf surfaces. Bar is 1 cm. |
G..baccata (left) and G. dumosa (right), lower leaf surfaces. |
|
Sep. 2, 2008. Halifax County: By path to Suzie's Lake. Photographer: JackPine.
|
|
|
|
Sep. 29 2005. Halifax County: Polly's Cove barrens & bogs. Photographer: JackPine.
|
Lowbush blueberry (Vaccinium angustifolium) at left, G. baccata at right. Bar is 2 cm. V. angustifolium and G. baccata often occur in the same area and the plants can appear superficially similar. Their leaf margins are quite distinctive under a handlens (serrated in V. angustifolium, entire in G. baccata.). G dumosa can be distinguished from G. baccata by its mucronate leaf tip and more leathery texture.
|
Leaf tips of V. angustifolium, G. baccata, G. dumosa. Units are 1 mm.
 Leaf margins of V. angustifolium, G. baccata, G. dumosa.. Gland tipped hairs can be seen in leaves of V. angustifolium and G. dumosa. Bar is 1 mm.
|
|
Oct. 3, 2006. Halifax County: BOg near West Dover. Photographer: JackPine.
|
The red vegetation on the slope is G. baccata; it did not extend into the wet bog. |
|
|
October 11, 2008. Halifax County: Suzie's Lake. Photographer: JackPine.
|
|
|
|
Nov. 1, 2005. Halifax County: Polly's Cove barrens & bogs. Photographer: JackPine.
|
|
|
Selected Web Resources
