ʻōhelo berry

Photo: Forest & Kim Starr — CC BY 3.0 · source

Survives zone 8 through 9

Harvest calendar

Ripens: Peaks June–Sept, but flowers and fruits year-round

Best planted in early spring after your last frost, or in fall before the ground freezes, depending on your climate.

A sacred Hawaiian shrub of high-elevation lava flows, traditionally offered to the volcano deity Pele before harvest; the tart-to-sweet berries (color varies widely and doesn't indicate ripeness) are used in jams, pies and increasingly in cocktails, and are a critical food source for the endangered nēnē goose.

Hardiness

Zone 8–9

Habit

Shrub

Edible part

Fruit

Ripens

Peaks June–Sept, but flowers and fruits year-round

Mature size

Evergreen shrub 0.1–1.5 m; excellent in containers, which also keeps the compost acid

Light

Full sun — a pioneer on bare lava flows and volcanic ash

Soil pH

4.0–5.5 — ⚠ STRICTLY ACID-LOVING (calcifuge). Will die on alkaline soil; use ericaceous compost + rainwater

Environment

Volcanic montane

Native range

Endemic to Hawaiʻi, growing at roughly 640–3,700 m elevation, mainly on lava flows and fresh volcanic ash on Maui and Hawaiʻi Island, less commonly on Kauaʻi, Oʻahu and Molokaʻi.

Status

Both wild and cultivated

Years to fruit

As little as 1–2 yrs in cultivation (nursery seedlings have flowered in as little as 10 months); traditionally cited at ~5 yrs in the wild

Growth speed

Slow

Spacing

90 cm (35 in) apart — about 1.2 per m² (1.1 per 10 sq ft)

Leaf shape

Evergreen, leathery, oval leaves 1–3 cm long that emerge red before turning green; some selections keep a red leaf margin.

Root system

Rhizomatous — new branches sprout from underground rhizomes, letting it colonize bare lava and cinder.

Fruit description

Round berries (8–14 mm) with highly variable color — blue, purple, red, orange or yellow depending on the plant; named Hawaiian cultivars run orange-salmon to light orange-yellow with red speckles, mildly acidic.

Propagation

The best-documented Vaccinium propagation protocol in this genus, thanks to a dedicated CTAHR/USDA-ARS study: tiny seed (100 seeds weigh about 0.1 g) germinates in 40–45 days in a 1:1:1 peat:vermiculite:perlite mix under 60–80% shade; 2-inch cuttings root at about 60% within 3 months under mist with rooting hormone; tissue-culture protocols also exist for conservation and multiplication.

Pollination

Self-fertile, better with a 2nd cultivar

The edible parts listed above are a starting point, not a field guide. Identify a plant with certainty — ideally against a local authority — before eating any part of it, and read the full disclaimer. Spotted something wrong? Report it.