Bilberry

The berries are edible.

Shrubs deciduous, dwarf, 15–30(–60) cm tall, much branched, rhizomatous. Twigs acutely angled; bud scales inconspicuous. Leaves scattered; petiole ca. 1 mm; leaf blade ovate or elliptic, 1–3 × 0.6–1.6 cm, papery, secondary veins 6 or 7 pairs, fine veins raised abaxially, inconspicuous adaxially, base broadly cuneate to rounded, margin plane, serrulate, apex acute to obtuse. Flowers solitary, axillary, pendulous, 1–3 at base of shoot. Pedicel 2.5–3.5 mm; bracteoles absent. Flowers 4- or 5-merous. Hypanthium ca. 4 mm, scarcely lobed. Corolla pale green, tinged with pink, globose-urceolate, 4–6 mm; lobes reflexed. Filaments ca. 1.5 mm, glabrous; anthers 2.2–2.5 mm, thecae with 2 subulate spurs, tubules shorter than thecae. Berry 4- or 5-loculed, bluish black, with a bloom, 6–10 mm in diam. Fl. Jun, fr. Sep. 2n = 24.

Xinjiang [Mongolia, Russia; Europe].

Larix, Picea, Pinus, or mixed forests, on acidic and wet soils; 2200–2500 m.