I found this plant growing near wild blueberry and huckleberry shrubs in the mountains of central Pennsylvania. The plant and the fruit are quite beautiful- I'm very curious to know what is. I'm hoping the fruit is edible- there is a great deal of it out there. The berries are definitely not ripe yet though some of them are starting to turn a slight pink color and I'm not sure what they look like when they are completely ripe. It is growing quite profusely in an area where there was a forest fire several years ago.
Welcome huntergatherer. Looks like Vaccinium stamineum. Common name Deerberry. http://www.duke.edu/~cwcook/trees/vast.html http://www.google.co.uk/images?q=va...&source=og&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wi&biw=1247&bih=528
Thank you silver surfer they are indeed deerberries. I never heard of them before. The first link has some erroneous information though saying that "The fruits are green when ripe, not black or blue, and not tasty — suitable only for deer to eat, hence the name." The fruits are blue/black when ripe and seem to taste very good according to some accounts of them. They are indeed a blueberry which is what I first thought when I first saw the blossoms. Once the berries formed I started thinking they were something very different. However they ripen on a different time line than the usual wild blueberries which are ripe now. The deerberries don't look like they will be ripe for another several weeks. That may also be behind the confusion over what they are like when they are ripe- people assume they are ripe when they the see that the more common blueberry is ripe. Apparently like the blueberry the deerberries have significant health benefits- high in antioxidants and so forth. So I definitely will be scooping them up.
Maybe my id is not accurate. Missourii web site is excellent. However, there is no mention of the berries. Maybe you could check the leaves and flowers. The flowers should have exserted anthers and style.( See good links below) http://www.missouriplants.com/Whitealt/Vaccinium_stamineum_page.html This 2nd link states....."Greenish to blue-black berries often have a whitish bloom" http://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=VAST http://tenn.bio.utk.edu/vascular/da...m&PhotoNameID=va_stam&PhotographerNameID=Alan S. Heilman Hope this helps.
Normally cultivated Blueberries grown in gardens are Vaccinium corymbosum, or hybrids of it. The flowers on these are much more bell shaped, sort of puckered at the mouth. With the stigma only just visible. See...... http://www.ct-botanical-society.org/galleries/vacciniumcory.html Compare this to huntergathers 2nd pic, which shows flowers that are more flared open, with exserted anthers and style. See.... http://www.botanicalgarden.ubc.ca/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=84083&d=1280721577
It's definitely a deerberry. It has a significant blush on the berries. Apparently some varieties of them stay somewhat greenish and are bitter and others turn purple/black and are sweeter. It may just depend on what variety is found in a given area as to how people describe them. Juneberries are also this way- some are rather bitter and others are quite sweet.
