Dangleberry, a heather-family bushy clonal shrub of eastern North America, ranges from New Hampshire to Georgia. In Massachusetts it grows mostly in oak/hickory forests. During the second half of August, it produces rather large, juicy, and sweet blue berries. They ripen on small, weak branchlets that dangle when loaded with the heavy fruit, even when only one of the berries on the branchlet makes it to the ripe stage. Another name for 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.

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Tidmarsh Sanctuary, Plymouth, June 6