Vaccinium myrtillus

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Vaccinium myrtillus
203 Vaccinum myrtillus L.jpg
By Amédée Masclef, published in Atlas des plantes de France, 1891
Status TNC G5.svg
Secure  (NatureServe) [1]
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Ericales
Family: Ericaceae
Genus: Vaccinium
Subgenus: Vaccinium subg. Vaccinium
Section: Vaccinium sect. Myrtillus
Species:
V. myrtillus
Binomial name
Vaccinium myrtillus
L. 1753
Synonyms [2]
  • Myrtillus nigerGilib.
  • Myrtillus sylvaticusDrejer
  • Vaccinium oreophilumRydb.
  • Vitis-idaea myrtillus(L.) Moench

Vaccinium myrtillus or European blueberry is a holarctic species of shrub with edible fruit of blue color, known by the common names bilberry , blaeberry, wimberry, and whortleberry. [3] It is more precisely called common bilberry or blue whortleberry to distinguish it from other Vaccinium relatives.

Contents

Description

Vaccinium myrtillus is a small deciduous shrub that grows 10–51 cm (4–20 in) tall, heavily branched with upright, angular to narrow winged, green-colored branches that are glabrous. It grows rhizomes, creating extensive patches The shrub can live up to 30 years, with roots reaching depths of up to 1 metre (3+1⁄2 ft). It has light green leaves that turn red in autumn and are simple and alternate in arrangement. [4] The leaves are 1–3 cm (3⁄8–1+1⁄8 in) long and ovate to lanceolate or broadly elliptic in shape, with glandular to finely toothed margins; [4] they are prominently veined on the lower surface. In winter, the foliage turns deep red and becomes deciduous.

Small, hermaphrodite flowers with thick stems (about 2–3 millimetres or 1⁄16–1⁄8 inch long) grow individually from the leaf axils and nod downward. These flowers, blooming from April to May, have crowns 4 to 6 mm long that are greenish to reddish. The small calyx is fused with minimal lobes on the cup-shaped flower. The rounded, urn-shaped pink petals have short, curved lobes. The 8–10 stamens are short, and the anthers are awned and horned. The four- or five-chambered ovary is inferior with a long style.

From July to September, the plants produce black-blue, flattened, round fruits with a maximum diameter of 1 cm. These multi-seeded berries have calyx remnants on the tip and a blue-gray frosted appearance. Rarely, forms with white, yellow, red, or reddish-spotted berries occur. The small, brownish seeds are crescent-shaped. This species differs from V. corymbosum in that its anthocyanins, which produce color, are found in both the peel and the flesh.

Chromosome count is 2n=24. [5] [6]

Chemistry

Bilberry and the related V. uliginosum both produce lignins, in part because they are used as defensive chemicals. [7] Although many plants change their lignin production – usually to increase it – to handle the stresses of climate change, lignin levels of both Vaccinium species appear to be unaffected. [7] The leaves contain catechins, tannins, quinic acid, arbutin, chlorogenic acid, various glycosides, the fruits contain anthocyanins, pectin, ursolic acid, chlorogenic acid, and ascorbic acid. [8]

V. myrtillus contains a high concentration of triterpenes which remain under laboratory research for their possible biological effects. [9]

Common names

Regional names include blaeberry (Scotland), urts or hurts (Cornwall and Devon), [10] hurtleberry, [11] myrtleberry, [12] wimberry, whinberry, winberry, [13] and fraughan. [14]

Distribution and habitat

Vaccinium myrtillus is a Holarctic species native to almost every country in Europe, north and central Asia, Japan, Greenland, Western Canada, and the Western United States. Within Europe it is only absent from Sardinia, Sicily, the European portion of Turkey, Crete, the Aegean Islands, Cyprus, Crimea, and southern European Russia. [15] It occurs in the acidic soils of heaths, boggy barrens, moorlands, degraded meadows, open forests at the base of pine and mountain spruce forest, and parklands, slopes, and moraines at elevations up to 2,350 m (7,710 ft). [16] [17]

Toxicity

Consuming the leaves may be unsafe. [3]

Uses

Bilberries have dark red juice that stains hands Hands scooping up fresh bilberries picked in Tuntorp.jpg
Bilberries have dark red juice that stains hands

The fruits will stain hands, teeth and tongue deep blue or purple while eating and so it was traditionally used as a dye for food and clothes in Britain. [18]

Bilberries Llusi duon bach.jpg
Bilberries

Fruit

Vaccinium myrtillus has been used for centuries in traditional medicine, particularly in traditional Austrian medicine as a tea or liqueur in attempts to treat various disorders. [19] Bilberry dietary supplements are marketed in the United States, although there is little evidence these products have any effect on health or diseases. [3]

In cooking, the bilberry fruit is commonly used for pies, tarts and flans, cakes, jams, muffins, cookies, sauces, syrups, juices, and candies. [3]

Although bilberries are in high demand by consumers in Northern Europe, the berries are harvested in the wild without any cultivation. Some authors state that opportunities exist to improve the crop if cultivated using common agricultural practices. [20]

Leaves

In traditional medicine, the (potentially toxic) leaves were mainly used for treating skin disorders. [3]

See also

Related Research Articles

<i>Vaccinium</i> Genus of berry-producing shrubs in the heath family

Vaccinium is a common and widespread genus of shrubs or dwarf shrubs in the heath family (Ericaceae). The fruits of many species are eaten by humans and some are of commercial importance, including the cranberry, blueberry, bilberry (whortleberry), lingonberry (cowberry), and huckleberry. Like many other heath plants, they are restricted to acidic soils.

<i>Vaccinium vitis-idaea</i> Species of shrub with edible fruit

Vaccinium vitis-idaea is a small evergreen shrub in the heath family Ericaceae, known colloquially as the lingonberry, partridgeberry, foxberry, mountain cranberry, or cowberry. It is native to boreal forest and Arctic tundra throughout the Northern Hemisphere, including Eurasia and North America. Commercially cultivated in the United States Pacific Northwest and the Netherlands, the edible berries are also picked in the wild and used in various dishes, especially in Nordic cuisine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bilberry</span> Species of shrub with edible berries

Bilberries are Eurasian low-growing shrubs in the genus Vaccinium in the flowering plant family Ericaceae that bear edible, dark blue berries. They resemble but are distinct from North American blueberries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Delphinidin</span> Chemical compound

Delphinidin is an anthocyanidin, a primary plant pigment, and also an antioxidant. Delphinidin gives blue hues to flowers in the genera Viola and Delphinium. It also gives the blue-red color of the grape variety Cabernet Sauvignon, and can be found in cranberries and Concord grapes as well as pomegranates, and bilberries.

Whortleberry may refer to the berries of several plants of genus Vaccinium:

Traditional dyes of the Scottish Highlands are the native vegetable dyes used in Scottish Gaeldom.

<i>Berberis vulgaris</i> Species of shrub

Berberis vulgaris, also known as common barberry, European barberry or simply barberry, is a shrub in the genus Berberis native to the Old World. It produces edible but sharply acidic berries, which people in many countries eat as a tart and refreshing fruit.

<i>Vaccinium uliginosum</i> Berry and plant

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

<i>Myrtillocactus geometrizans</i> Species of cactus

Myrtillocactus geometrizans is a species of cactus in the genus Myrtillocactus, native to central and northern Mexico.

<i>Empetrum nigrum</i> Plant in the heather family Ericaceae

Empetrum nigrum, crowberry, black crowberry, mossberry, or, in western Alaska, Labrador, etc., blackberry, is a flowering plant species in the heather family Ericaceae with a near circumboreal distribution in the Northern Hemisphere. It is usually dioecious, but there is a bisexual tetraploid subspecies, Empetrum nigrum subsp. hermaphroditum, which occurs in more northerly locations and at higher altitude.

<i>Vaccinium cespitosum</i> Berry and plant

Vaccinium cespitosum, known as the dwarf bilberry, dwarf blueberry, or dwarf huckleberry, is a species of flowering shrub in the genus Vaccinium, which includes blueberries, huckleberries, and cranberries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Blueberry</span> Section of plants

Blueberries are a widely distributed and widespread group of perennial flowering plants with blue or purple berries. They are classified in the section Cyanococcus within the genus Vaccinium. Commercial blueberries—both wild (lowbush) and cultivated (highbush)—are all native to North America. The highbush varieties were introduced into Europe during the 1930s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anthocyanin</span> Class of plant-based pigments

Anthocyanins, also called anthocyans, are water-soluble vacuolar pigments that, depending on their pH, may appear red, purple, blue, or black. In 1835, the German pharmacist Ludwig Clamor Marquart named a chemical compound that gives flowers a blue color, Anthokyan, in his treatise "Die Farben der Blüthen". Food plants rich in anthocyanins include the blueberry, raspberry, black rice, and black soybean, among many others that are red, blue, purple, or black. Some of the colors of autumn leaves are derived from anthocyanins.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Huckleberry</span> Berry and plant

Huckleberry is a name used in North America for several plants in the family Ericaceae, in two closely related genera: Vaccinium and Gaylussacia.

<i>Vaccinium deliciosum</i> Species of flowering plant

Vaccinium deliciosum is a species of bilberry known by the common names Cascade bilberry, Cascade blueberry, and blueleaf huckleberry. It is a flowering plant in the heath family Ericaceae.

<i>Vaccinium arctostaphylos</i> Species of shrub

Vaccinium arctostaphylos or Caucasian whortleberry is a species of shrub with edible fruit of blue color. It is native to Western Asia, the Caucasus, and Southeastern Europe (Bulgaria). Cytology is 2n = 48.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ideain</span> Chemical compound

Ideain, the cyanidin 3-O-galactoside, is an anthocyanin, a type of plant pigment.

<i>Vaccinium praestans</i> Species of shrub

Vaccinium praestans, the Kamchatka bilberry, is a perennial shrub in the family Ericaceae, which includes species like cranberries, blueberries, and huckleberries. In Russia this plant is known as the Klopovka, or stink-bug berry, due to its distinct, potent scent, resembling that of a secretion produced by bugs of Heteroptera genus. The plant is native to Kamchatka but can be found in North America to Eastern Asia. Mostly growing in the wild, it is also enjoyed as an ornamental plant, most commonly in Japan, where it is used to decorate home gardens. Like many other species in the family Ericaceae, its berries are edible.

References

  1. ↑ NatureServe (2024). "Vaccinium myrtillus". Arlington, Virginia. Retrieved 10 April 2024.
  2. ↑ Vaccinium myrtillus L. The Plant List
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 "Bilberry". National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health, US National Institutes of Health. 1 August 2020. Retrieved 4 October 2022.
  4. 1 2 "Vaccinium myrtillus". www.fs.usda.gov. Retrieved 2022-09-13.
  5. ↑ Oberdorfer, Erich (2001). Pflanzensoziologische Exkursionsflora für Deutschland und angrenzende Gebiete (in German). Stuttgart: Ulmer. p. 732. ISBN   3-8001-3131-5.
  6. ↑ "Bilberry". GDV. Retrieved 2024-07-08.
  7. 1 2 Bidart-Bouzat, M. Gabriela; Imeh-Nathaniel, Adebobola (2008). "Global Change Effects on Plant Chemical Defenses against Insect Herbivores". Journal of Integrative Plant Biology. 50 (11): 1339–1354. doi: 10.1111/j.1744-7909.2008.00751.x . ISSN   1672-9072. PMID   19017122.
  8. ↑ "Vaccinium myrtillus". Dr. Duke's Phytochemical and Ethnobotanical Databases. Retrieved 2024-06-18.
  9. ↑ Szakiel, Anna; Pączkowski, Cezary; Pensec, Flora; Bertsch, Christophe (2012). "Fruit cuticular waxes as a source of biologically active triterpenoids". Phytochemistry Reviews. 11 (2–3): 263–284. Bibcode:2012PChRv..11..263S. doi: 10.1007/s11101-012-9241-9 . ISSN   1568-7767. PMC   3601259 . PMID   23519009.
  10. ↑ Phillipps, K. C. (1993). A Glossary of the Cornish Dialect. Padstow: Tabb House. p. 57. ISBN   0-907018-91-2.
  11. ↑ "Vaccinium myrtillus". Germplasm Resources Information Network . Agricultural Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture . Retrieved 12 December 2017. citing Wiersema, J. H. & B. León (1999), World economic plants: a standard reference, and Huxley, A., ed. (1992), The new Royal Horticultural Society dictionary of gardening
  12. ↑ "Bilberry, Blaeberry, Whortleberry, Whinberry, Windberry, Myrtle Berry, Vaccinium myrtillus". Wild Food UK. Retrieved 2020-07-31.
  13. ↑ Henley, Jon. Bilberries: the true taste of northern England, The Guardian, Monday 9 June 2008
  14. ↑ "Fraughan is an anglicisation of the Irish word Fraochán (or heather fruit, as the plant is often found growing with heather)". téarma.ie.
  15. ↑ "Vaccinium myrtillus L." Plants of the World Online . Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew . Retrieved 27 June 2024.
  16. ↑ "Vaccinium myrtillus Linnaeus". Flora of North America. Retrieved 2021-09-21.
  17. ↑ "Vaccinium myrtillus L." USDA Plants Database. Retrieved 2021-09-21.
  18. ↑ "Make Traditional Dyes – Bilberry Dye". Barley Hall. York Archaeological Trust, Arts Council England and VisitEngland. Archived from the original on 2012-04-21.
  19. ↑ Vogl S, Picker P, Mihaly-Bison J, Fakhrudin N, Atanasov AG, Heiss EH, Wawrosch C, Reznicek G, Dirsch VM, Saukel J, Kopp B (2013-03-25). "Ethnopharmacological in vitro studies on Austria's folk medicine--an unexplored lore in vitro anti-inflammatory activities of 71 Austrian traditional herbal drugs". J Ethnopharmacol. 149 (3): 750–71. doi:10.1016/j.jep.2013.06.007. PMC   3791396 . PMID   23770053.
  20. ↑ Nestby, Rolf; Percival, D.; Martinussen, Inger S.; Opstad, Nina; Rohloff, Jens (January 2011). "The European Blueberry (Vaccinium myrtillus L .) and the Potential for Cultivation. A Review" (PDF). The European Journal of Plant Science and Biotechnology. S2CID   52997599.
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