From coastal Central California to southern Washington and British Columbia , the red huckleberry '' ( Vaccinium parvifolium '' ) is found in the maritime-influenced plant community . In the Pacific Northwest and mountains of Montana and Idaho , this huckleberry species and several others , such as the black '' Vaccinium '' huckleberry ( '' V. membranaceum '' ) and blue ( Cascade ) huckleberry ( '' V. deliciosum '' ) , grow in various habitats , such as mid-alpine regions up to above sea level , mountain slopes , forests , or lake basins . The plant grows best in damp , acidic soil having volcanic origin , attaining under optimal conditions heights of , usually ripening in mid-to-late summer or later at high elevations . Huckleberry was one of the few plant species to survive on the slopes of Mount St. Helens when the volcano erupted in 1980 , and existed as a prominent mountain-slope bush in 2017
erupted
1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens
Huckleberry