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Bog Bilberry
Vaccinium uliginosum
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Bog bilberry is a small, upright shrub of bogs and cool northern landscapes. It has blue‑green leaves and grey‑blue berries with pale flesh. It grows widely across the northern parts of Europe, Asia and North America.
Did you know?
- The berry flesh and juice are pale, so they don’t stain like bilberries do.
- A northern specialist: it ranges from boreal bogs to arctic tundra in both Eurasia and North America.
About the species
Identification
Low, upright shrub 15–50(–70) cm. Stems round, woody and grey‑brown. Leaves small (6–25 mm), thin, blue‑green, wider toward the tip, with smooth edges that bend slightly backward; they fall in autumn. Flowers 1–3 at shoot tips, small and jug‑shaped, white to pinkish. Berries grey‑blue with a waxy coating, 8–12 mm, often a bit angular, with pale flesh and nearly colorless juice. Differs from bilberry: bilberry has bright green, angled stems and finely toothed leaves, and its berries stain purple; bog bilberry’s stems are grey‑brown and its berries do not stain. Flowers in Finland in May–June.
Plant group
Dwarf shrubs
Habitat
mire
Flowering
May–Jun
About the habitat
Grows on wet, acidic peat: open and forested bogs, hummocks in fens and swamps, wet heaths and tundra; in the north it can also occur on dry heaths. Common throughout the country.
Sources
Photo: David Gaya, CC BY-SA 2.5 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Vaccinium uliginosum fruit.jpg
Text: Pinkka: Suomen puuvartiset - Koppisiemeniset. Lähteet: Suomessa alkuperäinen koko maassa, yleinen., CC BY 4.0 https://laji.fi/taxon/MX.38621
Text: Pinkka: BIO-503 Suomen kasvisto ja kasvillisuus - Metsät: tuoreet kankaat, CC BY 4.0 https://laji.fi/taxon/MX.38621
Text: Pinkka: BIO-516 Hyötykasvit - Kotimaan villivihanneksia ja marjoja, CC BY 4.0 https://laji.fi/taxon/MX.38621
Text: Wikipedia (Finnish), CC BY-SA 4.0 https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juolukka
