Mark Twain ’s Huckleberry Finn is from Missouri , but the bush whose name he bears is found in many dissimilar field of the U.S. Varieties of huckleberry thrive around the nation , travel under different scientific names . Most species of huckleberry appear very much like blueberries , but each has its own favor habitat .
Huckleberry Blues
Only a practiced eye will be able-bodied to distinguish between blue huckleberries and blueberry . In fact , blueberry variety are often wrong termed huckleberries . All you have to do is exhaust a few berries to be indisputable ; huckleberry have 10 prominent seeds in each minor yield , so they cranch when you bite , unlike blueberry . huckleberry also tend to be sweet-scented than blueberries . Both choose acidulent , loose , well - drain soil . Certain varieties of huckleberries also favor shade .
Blue Huckleberries
huckleberry in the East are short , shaggy-haired plant , growing from 18 to 36 inches tall . They thrive in U.S. Department of Agriculture flora hardiness zones 7 through 9 . Two varieties exist in the wild , with different aboriginal growth surface area . Look in pine forest in the southeasterly coastal plain for Gaylussacia frondosa var . tomentosa , found most frequently in Alabama , Florida and Georgia . The 2nd kind , Gaylussacia frondosa var . frondosa , is aboriginal to the Piedmont realm of the Southeast . Huckleberries are a contradiction in terms . They enjoy bouldered Hill and boggy , cypress swamp margins , but also thrive in dry wood and flaxen pinelands where they have full sun in the morning and partial nuance in the good afternoon .
Huckleberries by Any Other Name
In the Pacific Northwest , people , including the U.S. Forest Service , tie the common name of huckleberry to specific fruiting shrubs within the Vaccinium genus . For example , Idaho ’s land fruit is commonly called magnanimous , black or fragile folio huckleberry , which grows to 5 foot grandiloquent and prefers higher elevations : 2,000 to 11,500 foot above sea degree . You ’ll ascertain these huckleberry bushes in the wild in cooler cragged areas like Alaska , Montana , and the Cascade and Rocky Mountains , where it produce as an under crop in subalpine forests . It is by and large found on moist , moderately deep , well - drain soils in USDA zona 4 through 8 . According to the University of Idaho , this shrub has never been successfully cultivated . As they thrive in full sunshine , front for hatful huckleberry bushes in clear cuts or places where the forest has experience regrowth after a flack .
Red Huckleberry
The term " red blueberry " would be internally discrepant , which may be why the coarse name for this red - berried bush is flushed huckleberry . This huckleberry is rule in fishy coastal wood and wetland in the Pacific Northwest , generally fertile on old numb logarithm or broken trees growing some 10 understructure tall and 6 feet blanket . The bush is fond of organic grunge , and decomposing dais bring home the bacon the nutrients it requires . Look for smooth , rounded leaves and berries that ripen early , in the first days of summer . Berry are cherry-red and tangy , beloved by wildlife and good for jam . The red huckleberry grows salutary in USDA geographical zone 6 through 8 .
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