Vaccinium myrtillus
Vaccinium sect. Myrtillus
bilberry, dwarf bilberry, dwarf blueberry, low bilberry, low blueberry, myrtle blueberry, whortleberry
bilberry, dwarf bilberry, dwarf blueberry, low bilberry, low blueberry, myrtle blueberry, whortleberry
blades bright green, broadly elliptic or ovate, 19–27 × 7–11 mm, margins sharply serrate, surfaces laxly glandular abaxially.
deciduous, rarely subpersistent, (usually distichous).
solitary flowers in axils of proximalmost leaves of leafy shoots of current year.
continuous with calyx tube.
calyx green, lobes ± recurved (or absent and margins of tube sinuate), deltate, 0.4–0.6 mm, glabrous;
corolla pink, cream, or greenish white, globose, 3–5 × 5–7 mm, thin, glaucous;
filaments glabrous.
sepals 5, (ca. 2 mm);
petals 5, connate for nearly their entire lengths, corolla (closed in bud), globose to urceolate;
stamens 10, included;
anthers with conspicuous awns, tubules ca. 1-2 mm, with terminal pores.
purple-black or bluish black, rarely reddish or red, 7–9 mm diam.
5-locular (each locule containing 10-50 ovules).
ca. 1 mm.
(3-)10-35.
= 24, 48.
Vaccinium myrtillus
Vaccinium sect. Myrtillus
Vaccinium myrtillus fruits are popular in Europe and are known to possess antioxidants and other compounds beneficial to vascular health. Berries in Europe are extensively harvested from wild stands. In North America, the fruits were used by the Kootenai, Carrier, Shuswap, and other native tribes. The small plant and fruit sizes create challenges for commercialization in North America.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Species 7 (7 in the flora).
Section Myrtillus is restricted to the Northern Hemisphere and has its greatest diversity along the Pacific Rim from Japan to Guatemala (S. P. Vander Kloet and T. A. Dickinson 1999). All of the seven species of this section occur in the flora area; Vaccinium ovalifolium also occurs in eastern Asia, V. caespitosum extends southward to Guatemala, and V. myrtillus is circumboreal. Species of the section are commonly called huckleberries, blueberries, bilberries, or whortleberries. All produce edible fruit, and most were food sources for Native American peoples in western North America. Although none has been domesticated, some species show potential for commercial cultivation.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
BC
OR
WA
CalFlora
Flora NW
PNW Herbaria
SW CO Wildflowers
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist
USDA Plants Database
