Vaccinium myrtillus

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By Amédée Masclef, published in Atlas des plantes de France, 1891
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Scientific classification Edit this classification
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Binomial name
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L. 1753
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Synonyms[1]
  • Myrtillus niger Gilib.
  • Myrtillus sylvaticus Drejer
  • Vaccinium oreophilum Rydb.
  • Vitis-idaea myrtillus (L.) Moench

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Vaccinium myrtillus is a holarctic species of shrub with edible fruit of blue color, known by the common names bilberry, blaeberry, wimberry, and whortleberry.[3] It is more precisely called common bilberry or blue whortleberry to distinguish it from other Vaccinium relatives.

Names

The genus Vaccinium has at least three theories as to its origin.[4][5] It might be taken from the Latin Script error: No such module "Lang". for cow with the idea it was named for cows eating the bushes, but it may be from Script error: No such module "Lang". the word for berry.[4] The third theory is that is derives from the genus Hyacinthus.[5] The species name refers to the resemblance of its leaves to that of common myrtle.[4]

The name bilberry is primarily applied to Vaccinium myrtillus,[6] but is also an alternate name for the genus Vaccinium as a whole.[7] The name bilberry appears to be an English borrowing from Old Norse being very similar to the Danish Script error: No such module "Lang"., used for the same plant.[6] The names whortleberry,[8] whortles,[9] and tracleberry,[4] are similarly generally applied to this species but are also sometimes used for other species or the genus.[4] The name huckleberry generally means species in the related genus Gaylussacia,[10] but is also sometimes used to mean V. myrtillus or other species of the blueberry genus.[4]

The names myrtille and myrtle whortleberry are preferred in Canada specifically mean this plant species.[11]

Regional names include blaeberry (in Scotland), Script error: No such module "Lang". (in Scottish Gaelic),[12] urts or hurts (Cornwall and Devon),[13] hurtleberry,[14] myrtleberry,[15] wimberry, whinberry,[16][17] winberry,[18] and fraughan.[19]

Description

Vaccinium myrtillus is a small deciduous shrub that grows 10–51 centimetres (4–20 in) tall, heavily branched with upright, angular to narrow winged, green-colored branches that are glabrous. It grows rhizomes, creating extensive patches. The shrub can live up to 30 years, with roots reaching depths of up to Page Template:Fraction/styles.css has no content.1 metre (3+1⁄2 ft). It has light green leaves that turn red in autumn and are simple and alternate in arrangement.[20] The leaves are Page Template:Fraction/styles.css has no content.1–3 cm (3⁄8–1+1⁄8 in) long and ovate to lanceolate or broadly elliptic in shape, with glandular to finely toothed margins;[20] they are prominently veined on the lower surface.[21] In winter, the foliage turns deep red and becomes deciduous.

Small, hermaphrodite flowers with thick stems (about Page Template:Fraction/styles.css has no content.2–3 millimetres or 1⁄16–1⁄8 inch long) grow individually from the leaf axils and nod downward. These flowers, blooming from April to May, have crowns 4 to 6 mm long that are greenish to reddish. The small calyx is fused with minimal lobes on the cup-shaped flower. The rounded, urn-shaped, white-to-pink petals[21] have short, curved lobes. The 8–10 stamens are short, and the anthers are awned and horned. The four- or five-chambered ovary is inferior with a long style.

From July to September, the plants produce black-blue, flattened, round fruits with a diameter up to 1 cm.[21] These multi-seeded berries have calyx remnants on the tip and a blue-gray frosted appearance. Rarely, forms with white, yellow, red, or reddish-spotted berries occur. The small, brownish seeds are crescent-shaped. This species differs from V. corymbosum in that its anthocyanins, which produce color, are found in both the peel and the flesh. Its fruit persists for an average of 16.7 days, and bears an average of 25.3 seeds per fruit. Fruits average 85.4% water, and their dry weight includes 31.1% carbohydrates and 2.7% lipids.Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Footnotes/anchor_id_list' not found.

Chromosome count is 2n=24.[22][23]

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File:Vaccinium myrtillus vs Vaccinium uliginosum.JPG
Fruit (top) showing red flesh compared to V. uliginosum (bottom)

Chemistry

Bilberry and the related V. uliginosum both produce lignins, in part because they are used as defensive chemicals.[24] Although many plants change their lignin production – usually to increase it – to handle the stresses of climate change, lignin levels of both Vaccinium species appear to be unaffected.[24] The leaves contain catechins, tannins, quinic acid, arbutin, chlorogenic acid, various glycosides, the fruits contain anthocyanins, pectin, ursolic acid, chlorogenic acid, and ascorbic acid.[25]

V. myrtillus contains a high concentration of triterpenes which remain under laboratory research for their possible biological effects.[26]

Distribution and habitat

Vaccinium myrtillus is a Holarctic species native to almost every country in Europe, north and central Asia, Japan, Greenland, Western Canada, and the Western United States. Within Europe it is only absent from Sardinia, Sicily, the European portion of Turkey, Crete, the Aegean Islands, Cyprus, Crimea, and southern European Russia.[27] It occurs in the acidic soils of heaths, boggy barrens, moorlands, degraded meadows, open forests at the base of pine and mountain spruce forest, and parklands, slopes, and moraines at elevations up to 2,350 m (7,710 ft).[28][29]

Toxicity

Consuming the leaves may be unsafe.[3]

Uses

File:Hands scooping up fresh bilberries picked in Tuntorp.jpg
Bilberries have dark red juice that stains hands.
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Bilberries

Fruit

The berry is edible.[21] The fruits will stain hands, teeth and tongue deep blue or purple while eating and so it was traditionally used as a dye for food and clothes in Britain.[30]

Vaccinium myrtillus has been used for centuries in traditional medicine, particularly in traditional Austrian medicine as a tea or liqueur in attempts to treat various disorders.[31] Bilberry dietary supplements are marketed in the United States, although there is little evidence these products have any effect on health or diseases.[3]

In cooking, the bilberry fruit is commonly used for pies, tarts and flans, cakes, jams, muffins, cookies, sauces, syrups, juices, and candies.[3]

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.[32]

Leaves

In traditional medicine, the (potentially toxic) leaves were mainly used for treating skin disorders.[3]

See also

References

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  1. ^ Vaccinium myrtillus L. The Plant List
  2. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.NatureServe (2024). "Vaccinium myrtillus". Arlington, Virginia. Retrieved 10 April 2024.
  3. ^ a b c d e Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Bilberry". National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health, US National Institutes of Health. 1 August 2020. Retrieved 4 October 2022.
  4. ^ a b c d e f Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Small, Ernest; Catling, Paul M. (1999). Canadian Medicinal Crops. Ottawa: NRC Research Press. ISBN 978-0-660-17534-8. OCLC 70764249. Retrieved 16 December 2025.
  5. ^ a b Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Hyam, Roger; Pankhurst, Richard J. (1995). Plants and Their Names: A Concise Dictionary. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press; Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh. p. 515. ISBN 978-0-19-866189-4. OCLC 30026609. Retrieved 16 December 2025.
  6. ^ a b Script error: No such module "template wrapper". (Subscription or participating institution membership required.)
  7. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.VASCAN; Acadia University; Université de Montréal Biodiversity Centre; University of Toronto Mississauga; University of British Columbia (2025). "Vaccinium Linnaeus – Database of Vascular Plants of Canada (VASCAN)". Canadensys. Archived from the original on 15 February 2025. Retrieved 16 December 2025.
  8. ^ Script error: No such module "template wrapper". (Subscription or participating institution membership required.)
  9. ^ Script error: No such module "template wrapper". (Subscription or participating institution membership required.)
  10. ^ Script error: No such module "template wrapper". (Subscription or participating institution membership required.)
  11. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.VASCAN; Acadia University; Université de Montréal Biodiversity Centre; University of Toronto Mississauga; University of British Columbia (2025). "Vaccinium myrtillus Linnaeus – Database of Vascular Plants of Canada (VASCAN)". Canadensys. Archived from the original on 30 July 2023. Retrieved 16 December 2025.
  12. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Sinclair, Fiona (June 2001). "A site devoted to Vaccinium Myrtillus and the Scottish environment. Blaeberry in Scots, Braoileag in Gaelic, Vaccinium Myrtillus in Latin". Project Blaeberry, a site devoted to Vaccinium Myrtillus and the Scottish environment. Retrieved 2025-10-11.
  13. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Phillipps, K. C. (1993). A Glossary of the Cornish Dialect. Padstow: Tabb House. p. 57. ISBN 0-907018-91-2.
  14. ^ Script error: No such module "template wrapper". 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
  15. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Bilberry, Blaeberry, Whortleberry, Whinberry, Windberry, Myrtle Berry, Vaccinium myrtillus". Wild Food UK. Retrieved 2020-07-31.
  16. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Whinberry Gin Liqueur". Kirkwood Distillery. Retrieved 2025-07-12.
  17. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Whinberry Picking – 'A Cautionary Tale'". Bald Hiker.
  18. ^ Henley, Jon. Bilberries: the true taste of northern England, The Guardian, Monday 9 June 2008
  19. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Fraughan is an anglicisation of the Irish word Fraochán (or heather fruit, as the plant is often found growing with heather)". téarma.ie.
  20. ^ a b Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Vaccinium myrtillus". www.fs.usda.gov. Retrieved 2022-09-13.
  21. ^ a b c d Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Turner, Mark; Kuhlmann, Ellen (2014). Trees & Shrubs of the Pacific Northwest (1st ed.). Portland, OR: Timber Press. p. 180. ISBN 978-1-60469-263-1.
  22. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Oberdorfer, Erich (2001). Pflanzensoziologische Exkursionsflora für Deutschland und angrenzende Gebiete (in Deutsch). Stuttgart: Ulmer. p. 732. ISBN 3-8001-3131-5.
  23. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Bilberry". GDV. Retrieved 2024-07-08.
  24. ^ a b Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Bidart-Bouzat, M. Gabriela; Imeh-Nathaniel, Adebobola (2008). "Global Change Effects on Plant Chemical Defenses against Insect Herbivores". Journal of Integrative Plant Biology. 50 (11): 1339–1354. Bibcode:2008JIPB...50.1339B. doi:10.1111/j.1744-7909.2008.00751.x. ISSN 1672-9072. PMID 19017122.
  25. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Vaccinium myrtillus". Dr. Duke's Phytochemical and Ethnobotanical Databases. Retrieved 2024-06-18.
  26. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Szakiel, Anna; Pączkowski, Cezary; Pensec, Flora; Bertsch, Christophe (2012). "Fruit cuticular waxes as a source of biologically active triterpenoids". Phytochemistry Reviews. 11 (2–3): 263–284. Bibcode:2012PChRv..11..263S. doi:10.1007/s11101-012-9241-9. ISSN 1568-7767. PMC 3601259. PMID 23519009.
  27. ^ Template:Cite POWO
  28. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Vaccinium myrtillus Linnaeus". Flora of North America. Retrieved 2021-09-21.
  29. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Vaccinium myrtillus L." USDA Plants Database. Retrieved 2021-09-21.
  30. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Make Traditional Dyes – Bilberry Dye". Barley Hall. York Archaeological Trust, Arts Council England and VisitEngland. Archived from the original on 2012-04-21.
  31. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Vogl S, Picker P, Mihaly-Bison J, Fakhrudin N, Atanasov AG, Heiss EH, Wawrosch C, Reznicek G, Dirsch VM, Saukel J, Kopp B (2013-03-25). "Ethnopharmacological in vitro studies on Austria's folk medicine--an unexplored lore in vitro anti-inflammatory activities of 71 Austrian traditional herbal drugs". J Ethnopharmacol. 149 (3): 750–71. doi:10.1016/j.jep.2013.06.007. PMC 3791396. PMID 23770053.
  32. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Nestby, Rolf; Percival, D.; Martinussen, Inger S.; Opstad, Nina; Rohloff, Jens (January 2011). "The European Blueberry (Vaccinium myrtillus L .) and the Potential for Cultivation. A Review". The European Journal of Plant Science and Biotechnology. S2CID 52997599.

Bibliography

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