''Vaccinium myrtillus'' or European blueberry is a

holarctic The Holarctic realm is a biogeographic realm that comprises the majority of habitats found throughout the continents in the Northern Hemisphere. It corresponds to the floristic Boreal Kingdom. It includes both the Nearctic zoogeographical reg ...

species of

shrub A shrub (often also called a bush) is a small-to-medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from tree ...

with edible fruit of blue color, known by the common names

bilberry Bilberries (), or sometimes European blueberries, are a primarily Eurasian species of low-growing shrubs in the genus '' Vaccinium'' (family Ericaceae), bearing edible, dark blue berries. The species most often referred to is ''Vaccinium myrti ...

, blaeberry, wimberry, and whortleberry. It is more precisely called common bilberry or blue whortleberry to distinguish it from other ''

Vaccinium ''Vaccinium'' is a common and widespread genus of shrubs or dwarf shrubs in the heath family (Ericaceae). The fruits of many species are eaten by humans and some are of commercial importance, including the cranberry, blueberry, bilberry (whort ...

'' relatives.

Description

''Vaccinium myrtillus'' is a small deciduous shrub that grows tall. It has light green leaves that turn red in autumn and are simple and alternate in arrangement. Leaves are long and ovate to lanceolate or broadly elliptic in shape.

Common names

Regional names include blaeberry (Scotland), urts or hurts (Cornwall and Devon), hurtleberry, citing Wiersema, J. H. & B. León (1999), ''World economic plants: a standard reference'', and Huxley, A., ed. (1992), ''The new Royal Horticultural Society dictionary of gardening'' myrtleberry, wimberry, whinberry, winberry,Henley, Jon
Bilberries: the true taste of northern England
The Guardian, Monday 9 June 2008 and fraughan.

Distribution and habitat

''Vaccinium myrtillus'' is a

Holarctic The Holarctic realm is a biogeographic realm that comprises the majority of habitats found throughout the continents in the Northern Hemisphere. It corresponds to the floristic Boreal Kingdom. It includes both the Nearctic zoogeographical reg ...

species native to continental Northern Europe, the

British Isles The British Isles are a group of islands in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-western coast of continental Europe, consisting of the islands of Great Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Inner and Outer Hebrides, the Northern Isl ...

, northern Asia, Japan,

Greenland Greenland ( kl, Kalaallit Nunaat, ; da, Grønland, ) is an island country in North America that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is located between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Greenland ...

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its ...

, western Canada, and the

Western United States The Western United States (also called the American West, the Far West, and the West) is the region comprising the westernmost states of the United States. As American settlement in the U.S. expanded westward, the meaning of the term ''the We ...

. It occurs in the acidic soils of

heath A heath () is a shrubland habitat found mainly on free-draining infertile, acidic soils and characterised by open, low-growing woody vegetation. Moorland is generally related to high-ground heaths with—especially in Great Britain—a cooler a ...

s, boggy barrens, degraded meadows, open forests and parklands, slopes, and

moraine A moraine is any accumulation of unconsolidated debris ( regolith and rock), sometimes referred to as glacial till, that occurs in both currently and formerly glaciated regions, and that has been previously carried along by a glacier or ice sh ...

s. Bilberry and the related '' V. uliginosum'' appear to be unaffected by

climate change In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to ...

Uses

The fruits will stain hands, teeth and tongue deep blue or purple while eating and so it was traditionally used as a

dye A dye is a colored substance that chemically bonds to the substrate to which it is being applied. This distinguishes dyes from pigments which do not chemically bind to the material they color. Dye is generally applied in an aqueous solution and ...

for food and clothes in Britain. Llusi duon bach

Fruit

''Vaccinium myrtillus'' has been used for centuries in

traditional medicine Traditional medicine (also known as indigenous medicine or folk medicine) comprises medical aspects of traditional knowledge that developed over generations within the folk beliefs of various societies, including indigenous peoples, before the ...

, particularly in traditional

Austrian Austrian may refer to: * Austrians, someone from Austria or of Austrian descent ** Someone who is considered an Austrian citizen, see Austrian nationality law * Austrian German dialect * Something associated with the country Austria, for example: ...

medicine as a tea or liqueur in attempts to treat various disorders. Bilberry

dietary supplement A dietary supplement is a manufactured product intended to supplement one's diet by taking a pill, capsule, tablet, powder, or liquid. A supplement can provide nutrients either extracted from food sources or that are synthetic in order ...

s are marketed in the United States, although there is little evidence these products have any effect on health or diseases. In cooking, the bilberry fruit is commonly used for pies, tarts and flans, cakes, jams,

muffin A muffin is an individually portioned baked product, however the term can refer to one of two distinct items: a part-raised flatbread (like a crumpet) that is baked and then cooked on a griddle (typically unsweetened), or an (often sweetene ...

s, cookies, sauces,

syrup In cooking, a syrup (less commonly sirup; from ar, شراب; , beverage, wine and la, sirupus) is a condiment that is a thick, viscous liquid consisting primarily of a solution of sugar in water, containing a large amount of dissolved sugars ...

s, juices, and candies.

Leaves

In traditional medicine, bilberry leaves were used mainly for treating skin disorders. Consuming the leaves may be unsafe.

Harvesting

Although bilberries are in high demand by consumers in northern Europe, the berries are harvested in the wild without any cultivation. Some authors state that opportunities exist to improve the crop if cultivated using common agricultural practices. Hands scooping up fresh bilberries picked in Tuntorp

Hands scooping up fresh bilberries picked in Tuntorp

Chemistry

Bilberry and the related '' V. uliginosum'' both produce

lignin Lignin is a class of complex organic polymers that form key structural materials in the support tissues of most plants. Lignins are particularly important in the formation of cell walls, especially in wood and bark, because they lend rigidity a ...

s, in part because they are used as defensive chemicals. Although many plants change their lignin production – usually to increase it – to handle the stresses of

, lignin levels of both ''Vaccinium'' species appear to be unaffected. ''V. myrtillus'' contains a high concentration of

triterpene Triterpenes are a class of chemical compounds composed of three terpene units with the molecular formula C30H48; they may also be thought of as consisting of six isoprene units. Animals, plants and fungi all produce triterpenes, including squa ...

s which remain under laboratory research for their possible biological effects.

References

External links

United States Department of Agriculture plants profile- ''Vaccinium myrtillus''
{{Authority control myrtillus Berries Flora of Europe Flora of Asia Flora of temperate Asia Flora of Western Canada Flora of the Western United States Flora of Alaska Flora of Greenland Flora of Iceland Plants described in 1753 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus Medicinal plants Subshrubs Flora without expected TNC conservation status