Vaccinium myrtillus
Vaccinium tenellum
bilberry, dwarf bilberry, dwarf blueberry, low bilberry, low blueberry, myrtle blueberry, whortleberry
small black blueberry, southern blueberry
blades bright green, broadly elliptic or ovate, 19–27 × 7–11 mm, margins sharply serrate, surfaces laxly glandular abaxially.
deciduous, rarely persistent;
blade green, spatulate to elliptic, 13–40 × 3–17 mm, subcoriaceous, margins sharply to obscurely serrate, surfaces glandular abaxially, hairy especially when young, rarely glabrous.
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.
calyx pale green, sometimes hairy;
corolla usually white tinged with pink, cylindric, 5–9 mm;
filaments ± hairy.
purple-black or bluish black, rarely reddish or red, 7–9 mm diam.
black, 6–8 mm diam., sometimes puberulent.
ca. 1 mm.
5–25, ca. 1 mm.
= 24, 48.
= 24.
Vaccinium myrtillus
Vaccinium tenellum
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.)
BC
OR
WA
CalFlora
Flora NW
PNW Herbaria
SW CO Wildflowers
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist
USDA Plants Database
