# Woolly Huckleberry (Gaylussacia mosieri)

> A bog huckleberry of the Gulf coast whose twigs, flowers and sweet black berries all bristle with long, glandular hairs.

Also called woolly-berry, hirsute huckleberry. Category: Native Shrubs. Grown from seed by Blue Whale Trees. Web version: https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/woolly-huckleberry/

![Woolly huckleberry (Gaylussacia mosieri) leafy stem with rounded leaves and a glossy black berry](https://bluewhaletrees.com/img/plants/woolly-huckleberry-h1610-800.jpg)
*Photo: Ciftonia, CC BY-SA 3.0 · [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AGaylussacia_mosieri_1.jpg)*

## Facts

- Type: Shrub
- Mature height: 1 to 3 ft
- USDA hardiness zones: 8 to 9
- Grows wild in: Sandy barrens, swamps and wet flats
- Native range: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana and Mississippi. Also recorded in 1 other state, outside its native range
- Sun: Full, Part
- Soil moisture: Wet, Average
- Growth rate: Slow
- Traits: Wildlife value, Edible, Fall color, Tolerates wet soil
- Sold as: Saplings, Seed

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

## Availability

Not yet priced online. Ask at captain@bluewhaletrees.com or leave an email on the web page to be told when it is listed.

## Notes

Woolly huckleberry is a low huckleberry of the eastern Gulf coastal plain, from the Florida panhandle and southern Georgia west to Louisiana. It grows in pitcher plant bogs, seepage slopes and wet pine savannas, where it spreads by underground stems into colonies. Long glandular hairs cover its twigs, flower stalks and even its fruit, which sets it apart from its relatives. Unlike our black huckleberry of dry uplands, it wants wet, sunny ground. Use it as a backdrop to a bog garden or along a moist woodland edge, where birds come for its summer berries.

## Size, growth and what to expect

No source rates its growth, so our growth estimator treats it as slow, like our black huckleberry, about a foot a year. It stands 1 to 3 feet tall, rarely 5, and spreads by underground stems into small to large colonies.

White or pinkish bells hang four to eight together from March into May. The glossy black berries are juicy and sweet, a quarter to a third of an inch across, and covered with glandular hairs. Birds and mammals eat them. The leaves color in fall.

It grows wild on the eastern Gulf coastal plain in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana and Mississippi. Its home is pitcher plant bogs, hillside seepage bogs, wet pine savannas and flatwoods, and the edges of bayheads. USDA PLANTS also records it in South Carolina, outside the range the floras give.

## How to grow Woolly Huckleberry

Woolly huckleberry grows best in full sun or part sun. It wants a sandy, acid soil that stays moist, and it takes brief flooding. It will not take salt. Set plants 3 feet apart and keep them 2 feet from a wall. At its size it can go within 15 feet of overhead wires.

Saplings ship bare-root or potted. Plant them dormant, in a hole wider than the roots and no deeper. Set the crown at the soil line, put the native soil back in, and mulch with pine needles, clear of the stems. Treat it like black huckleberry seed, warm and damp for a month and then cool for two months, around 45 to 50 degrees. Then sow it in a damp peat and sand mix.

Keep the soil moist through the first two summers. It spreads by underground stems into a colony. It needs no pruning.

Each flower carries both male and female parts, and native bees pollinate it. Its relatives box huckleberry and black huckleberry set little or no fruit with their own pollen, so plant two or more woolly huckleberries from different parents for berries.

## Sources

- [Flora of North America, vol. 8: Gaylussacia mosieri](http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=250065724)
- [Florida Native Plant Society: Gaylussacia mosieri](https://www.fnps.org/plant/gaylussacia-mosieri)
- [Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center: Gaylussacia mosieri](https://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=GAMO3)
- [NatureServe Explorer: Gaylussacia mosieri](https://explorer.natureserve.org/Taxon/ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.148373/Gaylussacia_mosieri)
- [USDA Forest Service, Woody Plant Seed Manual (2008), Gaylussacia chapter](https://www.fs.usda.gov/nsl/Wpsm/Gaylussacia.pdf)
- [USDA NRCS PLANTS Database: Gaylussacia mosieri](https://plants.usda.gov/plant-profile/GAMO3)
- [Atlas of Florida Plants, USF Institute for Systematic Botany: Gaylussacia mosieri](https://florida.plantatlas.usf.edu/plant/species/2336)
- [Alabama Plant Atlas: Gaylussacia mosieri](http://floraofalabama.org/Plant.aspx?id=1736)

## Read before planting

- [Ten planting mistakes that quietly kill trees](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/ten-planting-mistakes/index.html.md)
- [Transplanting young trees: timing, water and protection](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/transplanting-young-trees/index.html.md)
- [Protecting young trees from voles, rabbits, deer and squirrels](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/protecting-trees-from-animals/index.html.md)
- [The habitat around a tree is part of the tree](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/habitat-around-a-tree/index.html.md)
- [Invasive vines and shrubs are what is killing your woods](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/invasive-vines-and-shrubs/index.html.md)
- [Native trees and shrubs for butterflies and moths: host plants first, nectar second](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/native-trees-for-butterflies-and-moths/index.html.md)

## Related

- [Planting-site check](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/site-check/index.html.md): for a thrive, struggle or fail verdict on Woolly Huckleberry, add ?species=woolly-huckleberry with zone (2 to 10), sun (full, part, shade) and moisture (dry, average, wet) to that address, for example ?species=woolly-huckleberry&zone=8&sun=part&moisture=average.
- [Companion species for Woolly Huckleberry](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/companions/index.html.md?species=woolly-huckleberry): the natives that share its ground and the plants that pair with it in a yard.
- [Growth estimator](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/growth/index.html.md): how the height and trunk projections are made; the estimate itself runs in the browser at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/growth/#species=woolly-huckleberry
- [Seed sowing planner](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/sowing/index.html.md): how Woolly Huckleberry is sown, in the chart for every species (treatment, cold days, depth, timing); the dated plan runs in the browser at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/sowing/#species=woolly-huckleberry
- [Pollination planner](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/pollination/index.html.md): what Woolly Huckleberry needs for a crop and how many to plant, in the table for every species; the planner runs in the browser at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/pollination/#plants=woolly-huckleberry:2
- [Bloom and fruit calendar](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/calendar/index.html.md): the months Woolly Huckleberry flowers and fruits, in the grid for every species.