Vaccinium uliginosum


Vaccinium uliginosum is a Eurasian and North American flowering plant in the genus Vaccinium within the heath family.

Distribution

Vaccinium uliginosum is native to cool temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere, at low altitudes in the Arctic, and at high altitudes south to the Pyrenees, the Alps, and the Caucasus in Europe, the mountains of Mongolia, northern China, the Korean Peninsula and central Japan in Asia, and the Sierra Nevada in California and the Rocky Mountains in Utah in North America.
It grows on wet acidic soils on heathland, moorland, tundra, and in the understory of coniferous forests, from sea level in the Arctic, up to altitude in the south of the range.

Description

Vaccinium uliginosum is a small deciduous shrub growing to tall, rarely tall, with brown stems. The leaves are oval, long and wide, blue-green with pale net-like veins, with a smooth margin and rounded apex.
The flowers are pendulous, urn-shaped, pale pink, long, produced in mid spring. The fruit is a dark blue-black berry diameter, with a white flesh, edible and sweet when ripe in late summer.

Subspecies

Three subspecies have been described, but not all authorities distinguish them:
In Korea, bog bilberry is used in infused liquor. In Siberia they use bog bilberries to make jam.