Dangleberry, a bushy clonal shrub from heather family, is abundant in Alper Preserve. During the second half of August, it produces rather large, juicy, and sweet blue fruits. They ripen on small, weak branchlets that dangle when loaded with heavy berries (usually there is only 1 to 3 ripe berries per branchlet). Another name of dangleberry is blue huckleberry. It is closely related to black huckleberry, the most common shrub of our pitch pine/oak forest. Both huckleberries are covered with tiny glands, especially on the leaf undersides. Blue huckleberry (dangleberry) is a shrub of eastern North America ranging from New Hampshire to Georgia. In Massachusetts it grows mostly in oak/hickory forests.

August 24

May 22