Florapass
English
Cranberry

Cranberry

Vaccinium oxycoccos

Identify the Cranberry from a photo and log your finds with Florapass.

Coming soon to the App Store and Google Play.

How common: Common

Cranberry is an evergreen, low shrub that creeps over wet moss on bogs. It has thin trailing stems with tiny leaves, pink‑red star-like flowers, and dark red round berries. It is native to the northern parts of Europe, Asia and North America, most common on cool, acidic peatlands.

Did you know?

  • Its rolled-under leaf edges and waxy surface help it save water on windy, open bogs.
  • The berries often remain on the plant through winter.

About the species

Identification

Low, creeping plant with thread-thin, flexible stems 10–80 cm long running over moss. Leaves tiny (about 0.6–1.5 cm), oval, shiny green above and almost white below; edges roll under. Summer flowers are pink to red with four long petals bent strongly backwards, carried in pairs or small groups at the tips of the stems. Round dark red berry about 1–1.5 cm. To tell it from small cranberry, look for the usually larger berries and flowers/fruits often in pairs or clusters; small cranberry has single, smaller berries. Flowers in Finland in June–July.

Plant group

Dwarf shrubs

Habitat

mire

Flowering

Jun–Jul

About the habitat

Grows on acidic, wet peatlands: open bogs and mossy, waterlogged ground, often right on top of bog moss; also along boggy shore margins. Common throughout Finland, rare in northernmost Lapland.

Sources

Photo: Ольга Слотвинская, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Перезимовавшая клюква.jpg

Text: Pinkka: Yläkoulun Pinkka - Suot ja tunturit, CC BY 4.0 https://laji.fi/taxon/MX.38618

Text: Pinkka: Suomen puuvartiset - Koppisiemeniset. Lähteet: Väre, H., Saarinen, J., Kurtto, A. & Hämet-Ahti, L. (toim.) 2021: Suomen puu- ja pensaskasvio. 3. täysin uudistettu p. – Publications of the Finnish Dendrological Society 10: 1–552 s., CC BY 4.0 https://laji.fi/taxon/MX.38618

Text: Pinkka: Laaja maatalouslajintuntemus 4 op - Koppisiemeniset, CC BY 4.0 https://laji.fi/taxon/MX.38618

Text: Pinkka: BIO-516 Hyötykasvit - Kotimaan villivihanneksia ja marjoja, CC BY 4.0 https://laji.fi/taxon/MX.38618

Text: Pinkka: Kasvien talvi - Talvivihreät luonnonkasvit, CC BY 4.0 https://laji.fi/taxon/MX.38618

Text: Wikipedia (Finnish), CC BY-SA 4.0 https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isokarpalo

See also