Oval-leaf blueberry (Vaccinium ovalifolium) is "the most common blueberry of the coastal forests of Alaska" and "occurs frequently in open environments." The abundance of blueberries, and their relatively ease of collection and storage, makes them an important berry for sustenance. Vaccinium ovalifolium is known as “early blueberry” or “blue huckleberry” in Dena’ina country. Pink flowers in spring are tube-shaped or bell-shaped, like other members of the heath family, Ericaceae. (Kari 1995) 

Vaccinium ovalifolium “rivals the salmonberry in the greatest number of berries harvested per season.” Prime-time for gathering blueberries is August. Berries may “stay on their branches into the winter months.” As it gets later in the season, rains may make the berries more watery, and less delicious. It is said that the best time to pick berries is “on a sunny day because they are less watery than on a cloudy or rainy day.” After picking, “blueberries were dried in the sun often on roofs and were stored in above ground caches in round spruce bark containers.” (Russell 1991) 

The Dena'ina eat the fresh berries, and store them for use in winter. Before sugar was available for fruit preservation, the Dena'ina would pack berries (raw or cooked) into lard, or oil, or mix berries with fish eggs. Lard of moose or bear, seal oil, and fish or animal meat, plus some sugar and berries is used to make the traditional dish nivagi, served unfrozen or frozen, resembling ice cream. Blueberries, in addition to lingonberries and blackberries, were also used for dyes, in material applications such as grass mats, and also in tattooing (skin coloring). (Kari 1995)

References

Hultén, Eric. Flora of Alaska and Neighboring Territories: A Manual of the Vascular Plants, 1968.

Kari, Priscilla Russell. Tanaina Plantlore Dena’ina K’et’una: An Ethnobotany of the Dena’ina Indians of Southcentral Alaska. Alaska Native Language Center (University of Alaska Fairbanks), Alaska Natural History Association, National Park Service, fourth edition, 1995. 

Russell, Priscilla N. English Bay and Port Graham Alutiiq Plantlore. Pratt Museum (Homer Society of Natural History), Chugach Heritage Foundation, and Alaska Native Plant Society, 1991.

Schofield, Janice J. Discovering Wild Plants: Alaska, Western Canada, The Northwest, fourth printing. Anchorage, AK, Alaska Northwest Books, 1998.

Viereck, Eleanor G. Alaska’s Wilderness Medicines: Healthful Plants of the Far North. Alaska Northwest Books, Fifth printing, 1995.

Author

Cecelia N. Dailey, 28 August 2025