''Gaylussacia frondosa'' is a species of flowering plant in the

heath family The Ericaceae are a family of flowering plants, commonly known as the heath or heather family, found most commonly in acidic and infertile growing conditions. The family is large, with c.4250 known species spread across 124 genera, making it th ...

known by the common names dangleberry and blue huckleberry. It is native to the eastern United States, where it occurs from New Hampshire to South Carolina.''Gaylussacia frondosa''.
Flora of North America.Biota of North America Program 2014 county distribution map
/ref> This

shrub A shrub (often also called a bush) is a small-to-medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from trees ...

grows up to two meters (80 inches) tall. The plant spreads via

rhizome In botany and dendrology, a rhizome (; , ) is a modified subterranean plant stem that sends out roots and shoots from its nodes. Rhizomes are also called creeping rootstalks or just rootstalks. Rhizomes develop from axillary buds and grow hori ...

, sprouting up new stems to form colonies. The leaves are up to 6 centimeters (2.4 inches) long by 3 cm (1.2 inches) wide. They are hairy and glandular. The inflorescence contains 1 to 4 flowers that hang on

pedicels In botany, a pedicel is a stem that attaches a single flower to the inflorescence. Such inflorescences are described as ''pedicellate''. Description Pedicel refers to a structure connecting a single flower to its inflorescence. In the absenc ...

up to 2 centimeters (0.8 inch) long. The flower is bell-shaped and greenish white. The fruit is a juicy, sweet-tasting

drupe In botany, a drupe (or stone fruit) is an indehiscent fruit in which an outer fleshy part (exocarp, or skin, and mesocarp, or flesh) surrounds a single shell (the ''pit'', ''stone'', or '' pyrena'') of hardened endocarp with a seed (''kernel'') ...

which is usually blue but may be black or white. This plant grows on the

Atlantic coastal plain The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the "Old World" of Afr ...

. It grows in wooded areas and next to

bog A bog or bogland is a wetland that accumulates peat as a deposit of dead plant materials often mosses, typically sphagnum moss. It is one of the four main types of wetlands. Other names for bogs include mire, mosses, quagmire, and muskeg; a ...

s and

swamp A swamp is a forested wetland.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p. Swamps are considered to be transition zones because both land and water play a role in ...

s. It is common in the pine barrens of New Jersey. It grows on acidic soils low in nutrients. It grows with other related plants such as highbush blueberry (''Vaccinium corymbosum''), hillside blueberry (''V. pallidum''), '' Lyonia'' spp., sheep-laurel (''Kalmia angustifolia''),

wintergreen Wintergreen is a group of aromatic plants. The term "wintergreen" once commonly referred to plants that remain green (continue photosynthesis) throughout the winter. The term "evergreen" is now more commonly used for this characteristic. Mos ...

(''Gaultheria procumbens''), dwarf huckleberry (''Gaylussacia dumosa''), and

black huckleberry Black huckleberry is a common name for several plants and may refer to: *''Gaylussacia baccata'', native to eastern North America *''Vaccinium membranaceum ''Vaccinium membranaceum'' is a species within the group of Vaccinium commonly referred t ...

(''G. baccata'').Carey, Jennifer H. 1994. Gaylussacia frondosa. In: Fire Effects Information System, nline U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Fire Sciences Laboratory. Many animals eat the berries and disperse the seeds.

Taxonomy

''Gaylussacia frondosa'' was once more widely circumscribed, encompassing three varieties; however, ''G. frondosa'' var. ''nana'' and ''G. frondosa'' var. ''tomentosa'' are now widely recognized at species level, as ''

Gaylussacia nana ''Gaylussacia nana'', the dwarf dangleberry or Confederate huckleberry, is a plant species native to the coastal plains of the southeastern United States. It has been reported from Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, Florida, North Caroli ...

'' and ''

Gaylussacia tomentosa ''Gaylussacia tomentosa'', commonly known as the hairy dangleberry or hairytwig huckleberry, is a plant species native to the coastal plains of the southeastern United States (Alabama, Georgia, Florida, the Carolinas). Asa Gray Asa Gray ...

''.

References

External links

The Nature Conservancy
{{Taxonbar, from=Q5528874 frondosa Flora of the Northeastern United States Flora of the Southeastern United States Berries Plants described in 1753 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus Taxa named by Asa Gray Taxa named by John Torrey