A low deciduous shrub with green angular stems, finely toothed leaves that redden in autumn, and blue-black berries that stain the fingers purple
Bilberry — Vaccinium myrtillus.
Nature · Shrubs
Bilberry
Native · deciduous, to 60 cm · flowers Apr–Jun · heath, moor and open woodland
Vaccinium myrtillus — Ericaceae
Bilberry is the low, green-stemmed shrub that carpets acid moors and birch, pine and oak woods in the north and west, bearing blue-black berries with a misty bloom that stain everything purple. Known as blaeberry in Scotland and whortleberry, wimberry or whinberry elsewhere, it feeds grouse, capercaillie, deer and pine martens. It is the wild British cousin of the cultivated blueberry, but a different species.
How to spot them
- ▸Low, wiry, angular green stems to 20 to 60 cm, forming patches by underground runners
- ▸Bright green, finely toothed, oval leaves with pointed tips, deciduous and turning red in autumn
- ▸Solitary, drooping, lantern-shaped pink flowers in spring
- ▸Round blue-black berries about 1 cm with a bloom, pink-red flesh inside and a purple stain on the fingers
- ▸Look-alikes: cowberry is evergreen with leathery leaves and red berries; cultivated blueberries are taller and have white flesh
How to know it
Cut one of the berries open and the flesh is pink-red inside, unlike the white flesh of its cultivated American cousin
Bilberry versus blueberry.
In Scotland it is called blaeberry; in the north of England, wimberry or whinberry
Bilberry.
Pine martens eat so many of these berries in summer that their droppings turn blue
Bilberry.
A staple of capercaillie and grouse, it carpets birch, pine and oak woods and moorland on acid soil
Bilberry — Vaccinium myrtillus.
A story from the Second World War says RAF pilots ate jam made from it to improve their night vision
Bilberry — a claim usually treated as a myth.
Quick-fire facts
- •Vaccinium myrtillus, family Ericaceae; the species name means 'little myrtle'
- •A deciduous shrub to 20 to 60 cm, flowering April to June; pollinated by bumblebees but also self-fertile (Woodland Trust)
- •Berries about 1 cm across with pink-red flesh, unlike commercial blueberries, which have white flesh (Wildlife Trusts)
- •Scottish name blaeberry; other British names include whortleberry, wimberry, whinberry and urts (Wildlife Trusts)
- •Food for capercaillie and grouse; deer, pine martens and bank voles also eat it (Woodland Trust)
- •Since 2007 some UK plants have been infected by the pathogen Phytophthora kernoviae (Wildlife Trusts)
- •Like all Ericaceae it depends on ericoid mycorrhizal fungi and grows on nutrient-poor acid soil, a calcifuge
- •In floriography it stands for treachery, from the Greek myth of Myrtilus (Woodland Trust)
Drill it — 7 cards
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Sources
- Woodland Trust — Bilberry (Vaccinium myrtillus)
- The Wildlife Trusts — Bilberry