Medicinal Shrubs and Woody Vines: Gaylussacia, Huckleberry and Hydrangea

judsoncarroll4

https://judsoncarroll.substack.com/p/medicinal-shrubs-and-woody-vines-088

Torey

I've never used hydrangea. As you say, its not used much in herbalism today. Hydrangeas (the pink ones that turn blue) are very common landscape plants in southern BC, particularly the south coast. Not hardy for my area but we have a white version that will survive the winter.

I didn't realize that there was another genus of huckleberries. All the ones we have here are in the Vaccinium genus; 5 species in the genus that contain the word huckleberry out of a total of 16 Vaccinium species. I have heard the term "dangleberry", though. Didn't know at the time that they were a huckleberry.

I love our huckleberries. Better than blueberries. Not a particularly good year for them, unfortunately.

judsoncarroll4

What is mostly used in the Cherokee/Appalachian tradition around here is the "7 bark".... but several wild, similar plants seem to be used interchangeably. I am going to need to really sort them all out someday. One that grows far too abundantly in my yard has flowers, stems and leaves of a hydrangea, but is vining and can grow 50 yards in one season! I really can't figure this one out. But, it will make some good baskets if I start using it and stop fighting it. We have far more wild blueberries than huckleberries. My favorites are ont his high ridges, where they grow like bonsai trees with tiny berries.