Vaccinium/Bilberry/diabetes/vision/circulation/varicose veins/huckleberry

Bilberry
varieties
Vaccinium species with globose blue black berries;
V. myrtillus
BILBERRY,
whortleberry, whortles, whinberry, tracleberry, huckleberry.
Northern Europe, America and Asia.
flowers green/pink, leaves oval and toothed.
berries usually single, somewhat acid
dry acid soils to 2800m, often dominant sp.
Mrs Grieves says this is the American Huckleberry.
V. uliginosum
BOG BILBERRY,
Arctic and sub arctic.
flowers white/pink, leaves oval no teeth.
berries clusters of 1 to 3.
damp acid soils to 3000m, often with above sp.
V. ulginosum sbsp. microphyllum.
as above with smaller leaves.
V. corymbosum
HIGHBUSH BLUEBERRY
North America, S. to Mich/NJ Pa O Ind
flowers white, leaves large not toothed.
berries in large clusters.
moist acid soils, a large shrub..to15 feet.
grown as an ornamental in the UK
V. ashei and V. australe
RABBIT EYED BLUEBERRY and S. E. HIGHBUSH BLUEBERRY
North America
these two spp and the above are the sources of cultivars.
V. angustifolium
LOWBUSH BLUEBERRY, Early Blueberry.
N. E. USA to Va mountains and Canada
flowers greenish white, leaves finely toothed.
berries in bunches of 4 to 6, large..to 1/2 inch.
dried flower smoke inhaled for 'craziness'.
V. myrtilloides syn V canadense.
DOWNY BLUEBERRY
range as above.
flowers white pink, leaves untoothed.
berries 4 or 5 to a bunch.
bogs and dry acid soils.
a small, *hairy shrub.
V. nummularia
Himalayas
grown as an ornamental, evergreen, edible berries.
also; V. myrsinites USA, V. glauco album Sikkim and
V cylindraceum Azores...ornamentals in UK.
Varieties with red berries -
V vitis idaea
COWBERRY,
circumpolar
flowers white pink, leaves untoothed.
berries globose, *red.
poor acid soils to 3050m.
the Shakers used this sp. in preference to Uva ursi.
V x intermedium
COWBERRY, BILBERRY,
hybrid of these two, when they grow together.
intermediate characteristics.
V. oxycoccus syn. Oxycoccus quadrapetalus/palustris.
CRANBERRY,
Europe, except the far north.
flowers red pink and reflexed, leaves small not toothed.
berries pear shaped, *red brown and speckled.
damp acid soils, heath and open woods to 2000m.
V. microcarpum syn. Oxycoccus micro.
SMALL CRANBERRY,
as above but smaller and on drier soils.
V. macrocarpum
AMERICAN CRANBERRY
as above but larger, often cultivated.
locally naturalised in Europe.
NOTES -
Country names are a never ending minefield for herbalists
and the situation gets much worse trying to compare
American with European spp. We HAVE to check against latin
names and be very careful to check where our source book
was originally published.
Perhaps the readers of this could combine their
knowledge to specifically address this area. In the UK we
still use a lot of American herbs and a check list would be
very useful.
All spp contain anthrocyanadins.
since these are involved in colouring there is presumably,
a difference between the red and blue berried spp. in their
effects on eyesight. my inclination would be to regard all
blue spp as good, but possibly Bilberry is strongest...it is after all the
hardest work to pick.
Other medical properties are the same across the genus
ie. astringent, urinary antiseptic, lower blood sugar.
skin antiseptic and anti inflamatory, aids birth.
[submitted by Christopher Hedley]
Bilberry Hill