Bog Bilberry

Vaccinium uliginosum

Please keep in mind that it is illegal to uproot a plant without the landowner's consent and care should be taken at all times not to damage wild plants. Wild plants should never be picked for pleasure and some plants are protected by law.
For more information please download the BSBI Code of Conduct PDF document.

Plant Data

Flowering Months:

JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC

Order:

Ericales

Family:

Ericaceae (Heath)

Also in this family:

Arctic Bearberry, Bearberry, Bell Heather, Bilberry, Blue Heath, Blueberry, Bog Rosemary, Bog-laurel, Common Heather, Common Wintergreen, Cornish Heath, Corsican Heath, Cowberry, Cranberry, Cross-leaved Heath, Crowberry, Darley Dale Heath, Dorset Heath, Intermediate Wintergreen, Irish Heath, Labrador Tea, Large Cranberry, Mackay's Heath, Mountain-laurel, One-flowered Wintergreen, Portuguese Heath, Prickly Heath, Rhododendron, Round-leaved Wintergreen, Serrated Wintergreen, Shallon, Sheep-laurel, Small Cranberry, St Dabeoc's Heath, Strawberry Tree, Trailing Azalea, Tree Heath, Yellow Azalea, Yellow Birdsnest

Type:

Deciduous shrub

Life Cycle:

Perennial

Maximum Size:

50 centimetres tall

Habitats:

Bogs, heathland, moorland, mountains.

Flower:

Pink, 5 petals

Clusters of pendulous pale pink, bell-shaped flowers. Bog Bilberry is a shy flowerer and flowers appear together in clusters of up to 4. Insect pollinated.

Fruit:

The fruit is a bluish-black berry. Fruits are bluer than those of the similar looking Bilberry (Vaccinium myrtillus). 5 to 8mm in diameter.

Leaves:

A dwarf shrub with bluish-green, oval leaves, similar to those of Bilberry (Vaccinium myrtillus) but rounder and without toothed margins. The leaves are a more bluish-green and are paler beneath.

Other Names:

Bog Blueberry, Northern Bilberry, Western Blueberry.

Frequency (UK):

Unusual

Similar Species:

Bilberry

Distribution Map

Reproduced by kind permission of the BSBI.

Click to open an Interactive Map