[pct-l] Huckleberries

[Joanne Lennox]

To a Botanist, common names mean nothing: they vary from place to place, 
culture to culture, region to region, person to person.  You can't evaluate 
them, or determine in fact which plant you are talking about.  Putting a 
"scientific fact" (number of seeds in the fruit, determinate to 
indeterminate numbers) onto a common name is like saying every body that is 
named Sally , wears pink  A horticulturist may be dealing with any number of 
species of Vaccinium or any number of agricultural varieties, either named 
or unique to that retail outlet.  Which variety or species do you suppose 
actually is ten seeded???   Is it the  Alaska Blueberry, the Bog Blueberry, 
The Cascade Blueberry, The Early Blueberrry, the Evergreen Blueberry, the 
Red Blueberry, The Thin-leaved Blueberry, or  The Western Bog Blueberry that 
is the seed container of
indeterminate number.  Or perhaps it is actually the Billberry or
Grouseberry.

The fact that there were so many hits on the google site may indicate it is 
a question that  is not capable of resolution.



----- Original Message ----- 
From: <enyapjr at adelphia.net>
To: <pct-l at mailman.backcountry.net>
Cc: <goforth at cio.net>
Sent: Saturday, October 07, 2006 9:17 AM
Subject: Huckleberries


> 'Google' or 'Ask Jeeves'...
>
> Below is just one of many from online search 
> <http://archives.cnn.com/2000/FOOD/news/08/24/gardening.blueberries.ap/index.html>...
>
> "What's the difference between blueberries and huckleberries? The names 
> are frequently interchanged. But horticulturists will tell you the 
> huckleberry has 10 large seeds and the blueberry many tiny soft seeds."
>
> Another, <http://gears.tucson.ars.ag.gov/book/chap7/huckleberry.html>...
>
> "There are more than 40 species of U.S. huckleberries. In general 
> appearance, they are so similar to blueberries that the common names are 
> sometimes interchanged (fig. 117). The important difference between the 
> two is in the ripe fruit. The huckleberry has 10 relatively large bony 
> seeds that makes the fruit objectionable for some people to eat, whereas 
> the blueberry may have as many as 65 seeds, but they are small and not 
> objectionable (Darrow and Moore 1962, Eck and Childers 1966)."
>
> BTW, Google had 60,400 hits for "Difference between blueberries and 
> huckleberries?"...
>
> Happy trails!!!
>