Talk:Huckleberry

April 2009

Why no mention of Huckleberry Finn? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 131.128.205.201 (talk) April 2009

Huck Finn has his own article. --Travis Thurston+ 14:51, 20 May 2009 (UTC)

May 2009

Somebody left a 'comment' (I don't know what else to call it) under the 'references' section that says (apropos to nothing); "It is now known that it is grown in the Middle parts of the United States from the show Unwrapped" I have no idea how to fix it, so maybe one of the editors could remove it? It just sounds strange, especially in that location. (I would call it graffiti, personally.) Oh, and I, too, was wondering why there was no mention of Huckleberry Finn. I'm sure he has his own page, but it would make sense to at least make reference to him here. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.231.149.32 (talk) 07:03, 20 May 2009 (UTC)

I took care of it. Thanks for the heads up. --Travis Thurston+ 14:51, 20 May 2009 (UTC)

June 2009

The first paragraph of the article having admitted plants of the the genus Vaccinium with the many-seeded fruits to the category "huckleberry," I think there's a contradiction where the fourth paragraph seems to say, restrictively, that huckleberries have 10-seeded fruits. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Serotino (talk • contribs) 21:08, 13 June 2009 (UTC)

The latter is qualified by "Usually". The phylogeny here is not settled (see the Kron et al. paper cited at Vaccinium), nor does popular word usage always reflect the purported phylogeny. Kingdon (talk) 12:30, 28 June 2009 (UTC)

July2009

This isn't crucial to life as we know it, and I applaud the posting of the huckleberry article, but there is the contradiction that Wikipedia should strive to avert. If I may state in one sentence the effect of the first 2 sentences of the 4th paragraph: "The various species of plant called huckleberry have berries that contain 10 seeds." It has no "usually" qualifier and thus is at odds with any "usually" passage elsewhere. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Serotino (talk • contribs) 22:02, 4 July 2009 (UTC)

June 2010

Um, if we're citing the movie Tombstone, Doc Holliday never says "I'll be your huckleberry", he just says "I'm your huckleberry.". This part of the text is factually incorrect.Viper h (talk) 03:55, 26 June 2010 (UTC)

Please Sir... can I have some more?

This article is obviously written from a standpoint of familiarity with the subject matter and thus fails to inform on a basic level. Sorry to criticise, but it is easy to do when one is perhaps too close to one's subject.

As an Australian I have naturally heard of the Huckleberry but would also like to know facts such as:

1. Is it commercially grown? How is it harvested? etc etc

2. What amount is produced per annum etc etc etc

3. How is it sold? Canned, fresh, frozen etc

4. Did native Americans use it for food, medicine etc etc etc

5. How is it eaten/prepared traditionally? Is there such a thing as a pie or dessert that is famous or common?

As you can see, in the space of a few seconds I have come up with many aspects left unanswered by this article. There is no doubt that much of what I seek can probably be answered by the contributors of this article from the top of their heads, and that is why I suggest the subject matter is perhaps written as being assumed to be close to a previously aware audience to the subject .

Hope this comment helps anyone who might be able to add something good here. As always many thanks to the contributors of this as any article and look forward to reading more.

Kindest regards

Outofthewoods (talk) 07:49, 21 November 2010 (UTC)

I agree. This article is a little disappointing and lacking in detail. I just came back from a trip to Montana (where I had huckleberries for the first time) and was eager to learn a bit more about huckleberries, and this page didn't really help. Getting into some of the details questioned about here:

• It was claimed by everybody that I talked to (including people selling fresh huckleberries at roadside stands, and other locals) that huckleberries are only harvested in the wild. This was somewhat surprising to me, and I was hoping that this page would provide some confirmation and explanation of why. (Since blueberries and so many other berries are cultivated.)
• As a result of only being harvested in the wild, the berries and berry products are fairly expensive, and fresh berries can be non-trivial to find for sale. We had to drive around a little bit to find a roadside stand that had any, and then we paid $7 for a fairly small bag of berries. (Sorry, I can't provide a more accurate weight or volume.) Tiny (4 oz.) jars of jam were seen costing $4-$5, although part of that markup could be to target tourists.
• There are all sorts of huckleberry products. In a fairly short stay, we had fresh huckleberries, huckleberry jam, huckleberry pancakes with huckleberry syrup, huckleberry pie, huckleberry chocolate, huckleberry flavored coffee, and huckleberry flavored beer. If you want some more examples, check out The Huckleberry Path (Apologies if this is seen as just plugging a commercial site, but their products page lists a wide array of both food and non-food huckleberry products. I have no affiliation with them.)

I realize that none of this meets the criteria of "encyclopedic information that can be verified by external sources", which is why I'm just posting it here on the talk page, hoping that it spurs discussion and/or investigation that can lead to improving the article.

Dingdingwikki (talk) 07:01, 19 July 2011 (UTC)

Perhaps The International Wild Huckleberry Association might be a good source for some more info. Dingdingwikki (talk) 07:12, 19 July 2011 (UTC)

Prostrate

The article says that there is a prostrate form of the plant in California, but the word "prostrate" is not defined on Wikipedia. Does it mean "growing horizontally" rather than vertically? Wakablogger2 (talk) 23:02, 28 December 2010 (UTC)

wiktionary:prostrate includes the definition "(botany) Trailing on the ground; procumbent." I'm wondering if the use of the word prostrate is accurate. An image search for Huckleberry California does not show anything that seems to be trailing on the ground. Vaccinium ovatum (Evergreen Huckleberry) is native to California and is an upright bush. --Marc Kupper|talk 02:08, 8 May 2014 (UTC)

Outside NA?

Is it available or cultivated anywhere outside North America?

Distribution of Red Ones

This general article on huckleberries disagrees with the one specific to Vaccinium parvifolium on distribution. This one puts the red huckleberries "From coastal Central California to southern Washington of the United States," while that one puts them "from southeastern Alaska and British Columbia south through western Washington and Oregon to central California." I can tell you that I live farther north than southern Washington, and they are all over the forests around here. I doubt that qualifies as a reputable source, though come August I will throw red huckleberries at anyone who says I can't substantiate it. Nonetheless, can someone support this for me in a more civilized way?

They're in woodlands of southern BC as well, but we need a WP:SECONDARY source to support it. --Zefr (talk) 12:48, 13 June 2015 (UTC)

Many animals...

Huckleberries are consumed by many animals including bears, birds, and humans.

Does use of the serial comma before and reflect ambiguity about whether humans are animals (as ongoing events in the Middle East and Africa seem to suggest)? Or should it be, Huckleberries are consumed by many animals, including bears and birds, and by humans – ??

PS: Article fails to even mention huckleberry pancakes, an ever-popular breakfast item here in Idyho. Sca (talk) 12:32, 13 June 2015 (UTC)

Huckleberries are smaller than blueberries

Anyone who's seen huckleberries and blueberries in person could tell you that.

The statement that huckleberries look "like large dark blueberries" is a contradiction—and factually incorrect.

This article states that huckleberries range between 5-10mm, whereas the blueberry article states that blueberries grow 5-15mm. Perhaps some huckleberries are larger than some blueberries, but as a group the huckleberry is the smaller berry.

Additionally, the majority of huckleberry species that I can find measurements for (which are the most common varieties of huckleberries) have listed diameters of about 1/4 inch, or around 5-8mm. The only exception I found was the red huckleberries, which can be 1/2 inch in diameter. Those might look larger than some average blueberries, but they definitely aren't darker than blueberries so the contradiction remains. Mrjcowman (talk) 01:52, 7 January 2021 (UTC)

IPA

The /hw/ in "whortleberry" should be a ʍ. I tried adding it but it wasn't showing up. — Preceding unsigned comment added by ForestAngel (talk • contribs) 00:22, 18 February 2022 (UTC)

It shouldn't because the transcription is phonemic (see also English phonology#cite_ref-23, WP:DIAPHONEMIC). Nardog (talk) 09:34, 25 February 2022 (UTC)