Photo: Fritzflohrreynolds, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped · Wikimedia Commons

Maleberry

Scientific name: Lyonia ligustrina

Also called he-huckleberry, male blueberry, northern maleberry.

A tough native heath of swamp edge and dry ridge, hung with white bells in June for four rare specialist bees, that almost no nursery grows.

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Saplings ship bare-root or in a pot, usually 12 to 18 inches tall, in the dormant season, and their height and age are stated here with the price, once available.

We grow it as saplings and seed. One email when it is listed with prices, and nothing else. Or ask, and we reply with what is ready now. Live plants ship February to May and October to November.

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Wildlife valueShowy flowersTolerates wet soilFall colorRare

Type: Shrub
Mature height: 6–12 ft
USDA zones: 5–9
Growth rate: Medium
Flowers: June
Fruit: Capsules, September to October
First crop: 3 to 5 years after planting
Mature spread: 12 ft
Sun: Full, Part
Soil moisture: Dry, Average, Wet
Grows wild in: Stream banks, sandy barrens, dry uplands, the Appalachians, the coast, swamps and wet flats
Native range: 26 states and the District of Columbia, north to Maine, south to Florida and west to Texas
List all 27
Alabama, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mississippi, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia and the District of Columbia
See what is native in your state

Hardiness zones Find your zone by ZIP code

Maleberry is a shrub of the heath family, a cousin of the blueberries, that almost nobody sells. The flowers are small and the fruit is dry, yet the bells feed bees, four rare pollen specialists among them. The oval leaves turn orange-red in fall, and they are poisonous to livestock, so keep it out of pasture. It resprouts after fire or a hard cutback. Though a wetland indicator plant, it climbs to dry ridges and heath balds at 6,500 feet. Ideal for a rain garden, a pond edge or a dry acid ridge where a bee planting is wanted.

Size, growth and what to expect

A shrub of low woods, wet meadows, bogs and lake shores, maleberry matures at 6 to 12 feet tall and as wide or twice as wide, spreading from branching rhizomes into a colony. It grows at a medium pace, roughly a foot and a half a year in its youth on an average site, which is the rate our growth estimator uses for it.

The flowers come in June in crowded clusters along last year's twigs, each a white bell about a quarter of an inch across. The capsules that follow are dry, ripen in September and October and stay on the twigs through winter. It is a nectar plant that makes good honey. The name he-huckleberry, like maleberry, marks a blueberry look-alike whose fruit is a dry capsule with nothing to eat.

It grows wild from Maine to Florida and west to Texas, Arkansas and Kentucky.

How to grow Maleberry

Maleberry grows in full sun or part shade and does best in sun. It stands 21 degrees below zero, hardier than the references say. It wants acid soil, pH 5 to 6.5, and takes anything from a bog edge that stays wet to a dry rocky slope. Plants spread wide, so space them 6 to 8 feet apart.

Plant dormant bare-root or potted shrubs from leaf fall until bud swell, in a hole wider than the roots and no deeper. Set the crown at the soil line, put the native soil back in, and keep the mulch clear of the stems. The seed is dust, 100 to 300 to a capsule, and needs no chilling. Pick the capsules as they turn brown in September and October and keep them dry at room temperature over winter. In spring shake the seed out and sow it on the surface of a moist peat and sand mix, pressed in and not covered. Keep it damp under a clear lid.

Water weekly through the first summer if rain is short, and a plant on dry ground the second summer too. Cage seedlings for two winters where deer and rabbits are heavy, and keep mulch thin at the base so voles do not nest there. It flowers on last year's wood, so prune, if at all, right after bloom in July.

Growth is medium. Maleberry carries both male and female parts in each flower and accepts its own pollen, so bees set seed on a lone plant. It has no known pests or diseases and comes back from the roots after fire. Keep it away from grazing animals; the leaves are toxic to livestock, horses, dogs and cats.

Heights and zones are typical ranges for the species in cultivation; local conditions and seed source shift them.

Sources (10)