Search Fact Sheets Virginia Tech Dendrology

big huckleberry Ericaceae Vaccinium membranaceum Douglas ex Torr. Listen to the Latin Print a QR link to this factsheet symbol: VAME
Leaf: Alternate, simple, deciduous, elliptical, ovate, or obovate, 1/2 to 1 1/2 inches long, margins finely toothed; pale green and slightly glaucous above and paler below, red to purple in the fall.
Flower: Perfect, small (1/4 inch long); solitary; nodding; pinkish; corolla fused and nearly round; borne singly in leaf axils; appear in mid-spring.
Fruit: Small (1/4 to 1/2 inch diameter) purple to black berries, almost without bloom; ripen in late summer, delicious.
Twig: Young branches are yellow-green and somewhat angled; older branches have gray, shedding bark.
Bark: Gray and shreddy.
Form: An upright, densely branched deciduous shrub commonly growing 3 to 6 feet tall.
 Looks like: ovalleaf huckleberry - velvet-leaf blueberry - bilberry - dwarf bilberry

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Additional Range Information: Vaccinium membranaceum is native to North America. Range may be expanded by planting. Download the full-size PDF map.
More Information: Fall Color
External Links: USDAFS FEIS Silvics - USDA Plants Database
All material 2025 Virginia Tech Dept. of Forest Resources and Environmental Conservation; Photos and text by: John Seiler, Edward Jensen, Alex Niemiera, and John Peterson; Silvics reprinted from Ag Handbook 654; range map source information