Bilberry (European blueberry)
Latin: Vaccinium myrtillus (Linné 1753)
Svenska: Blåbär
Deutsch: Heidelbeere
Seeds in the scat
Many animals love to eat bilberries. Scat from bears, foxes, and thrushes may become entirely blue from bilberries in the end of the summer. This scat contains many seeds, from which new bilberry plants can grow!
This plant grows on acidic forest ground, for example in older spruce forests throughout Uppland. If you want to pick some, you might go to Nåsten or Lunsen, or perhaps walk along Linnaeus’ Jumkil trail.
Bilberries bloom from May to June. The fruits ripen around July. In the autumn, the bilberry bushes lose their leaves, but the branches remain green.
Photo: Emil Nilsson
NatureGate on bilberry
Wikipedia article on the bilberry