Bilberry is a name given to several species of low-growing shrubsA shrub or bush is a horticultural rather than strictly botanical category of woody plant, distinguished from a tree by its multiple stems and lower height, usually less than 5-6 m (15-20 ft) tall. A large number of plants can be either shrubs or trees, depending on the growing conditions they experience. Small, low shrubs such as lavender, ...shrubs in the genusIn the binomial nomenclature used worldwide, the name of an organism is composed of two parts: its genus (plural: genera) name (always capitalized) and a species modifier (known as the "epithet"). An example is Homo sapiens, the name for the human species (Latin for "wise man") which belongs to the genus Homo. Each genus must have a designated type species (see Type (zoology)). The generic name is permanently associated with the ...genus VacciniumVaccinium is a genus of shrubs in the plant Family Ericaceae including the cranberry, blueberry, bilberry or whortleberry, cowberry or lingonberry, and huckleberry. The genus contains about 450 species, which are found mostly in the cooler areas of the Northern Hemisphere, although there are tropical species from as widely separated areas ...Vaccinium (family EricaceaeThe plant family Ericaceae (also called the heath family or ericaceous plants) are mostly lime-hating or calcifuge plants that thrive in acid soils. The family Ericaceae includes numerous plants from mostly temperate climates: cranberry, blueberry, heath, heather, huckleberry, azalea ...Ericaceae) that bear tasty fruitsAn epigynous berry or false berry is an accessory fruit found in certain plant species with an inferior ovary, distinguishing it from a true berry. In these species other parts of the flower (including the basal parts of the sepals, petals, and stamens) can ripen along with the ovary, forming the false berry. The fruit of Cucurbitaceae is a false berry called a pepo. Examples of plants which produce false berries include: * Banana * family Cucurbitaceae ** Cucumis, ...fruits. The species most often referred to is Vaccinium myrtillus L., also known as blaeberry, whortleberry, whinberry (or winberry), myrtle blueberryBlueberries are flowering plants in the genus Vaccinium, sect. Cyanococcus. The species are native to North America and eastern Asia. They are shrubs varying in size from 10 cm tall to 4 m tall; the smaller species are known as "lowbush blueberries", and the larger species as "highbush blueberries". The leaves can be either deciduous or evergreen, ovate to lanceolate, and from 1-8 cm long and 0.5-3.5 cm broad. The flowers are bell-shaped, white, pale pink or red, sometimes tinged greenish. The fruit is a berry ...blueberry, fraughan, and probably other names regionally. They were called black-hearts in 19th century southern England, according to Thomas HardyThomas Hardy, OM (2 June, 1840 – 11 January, 1928) was an English novelist, short story writer, and poet of the naturalist movement. The bulk of his work, set mainly in the semi-imaginary county of Wessex, delineates characters struggling against their passions and ...Thomas Hardy's 1878 novel, The Return of the NativeThe Return of the Native is Thomas Hardy's sixth published novel. It first appeared in the serial Belgravia, a none-too-prestigious publication known for its sensationalism, and was presented in twelve monthly instalments from January to December of 1878. Due to the novel's controversial themes, Hardy had some difficulty finding a publisher; reviews, however, though somewhat mixed, were generally positive. ...The Return of the Native, (pg. 311, Oxford World's Classics edition).

The word bilberry is also sometimes used in the common names of other species of the genus, including Vaccinium uliginosum L. (bog bilberry, bog blueberry, bog whortleberry, bog huckleberry, northern bilberry), Vaccinium caespitosum Michx. (dwarf bilberry), Vaccinium deliciosum Piper (Cascade bilberry), Vaccinium membranaceum (mountain bilberry, black mountain huckleberry, black huckleberry, twin-leaved huckleberry), and Vaccinium ovalifolium (oval-leafed blueberry, oval-leaved bilberry, mountain blueberry, high-bush blueberry).

Bilberries are found in damp, acidicAn acid (often represented by the generic formula HA [H+A-]) is traditionally considered any chemical compound that, when dissolved in water, gives a solution with a pH less than 7.0. That approximates the modern definition of Johannes Nicolaus Brønsted and Martin Lowry, who independently defined an acid as a compound which donates ...acidic soilsTechnically, soil forms the pedosphere: the interface between the lithosphere (rocky part of the planet) and the biosphere, atmosphere, and hydrosphere. More generally, soil is a three phase system comprised of various combinations of naturally-derived solids including fine to coarse-grained rocks and minerals, organic matter (including living organisms), ice, weathered rock and precipitates, liquids primarily water solutions, and gases. The liquid phase is typically ...soils throughout the temperatealso see Self-control In geography, temperate latitudes of the globe lie between the tropics and the polar circles. The changes in these regions between summer and winter are generally subtle: warm or cool, rather than extreme hot or cold. However, a temperate climate can have very unpredictable weather. The north temperate zone extends from the Tropic of Cancer (at about 23.5 degrees north latitude,) to the Arctic Circle (at approximately 66.5 degrees north latitude.) The south temperate zone extends from the Tropic of Capricorn (at approximately ...temperate and subarcticThe subarctic is a region in the Northern Hemisphere immediately south of the true Arctic and covering much of Canada and Siberia, the north of Scandinavia, northern Mongolia and the Chinese province of Heilongjiang. Generally, subarctic regions fall between 50°N and 70°N latitude, depending on local climates.subarctic regions of the world. They are closely related to North AmericanNorth America is a continent in the Earth's northern hemisphere and (chiefly) western hemisphere. It is bordered on the north by the Arctic Ocean, on the east by the North Atlantic Ocean, on the southeast by the Caribbean Sea, and on the south and west by the North Pacific Ocean; South America lies to the southeast, connected to North ...North American wild and cultivated blueberriesBlueberries are flowering plants in the genus Vaccinium, sect. Cyanococcus. The species are native to North America and eastern Asia. They are shrubs varying in size from 10 cm tall to 4 m tall; the smaller species are known as "lowbush blueberries", and the larger species as "highbush blueberries". The leaves can be either deciduous or evergreen, ovate to lanceolate, and from 1-8 cm long and 0.5-3.5 cm broad. The flowers are bell-shaped, white, pale pink or red, sometimes tinged greenish. The fruit is a berry ...blueberries and huckleberriesHuckleberry is a name used in North America for several plants in two closely related genera in the family Ericaceae: Gaylussacia and Vaccinium. While some Vaccinium species, such as the Red Huckleberry, are always called huckleberries, other species may be called blueberries or huckleberries depending upon local custom. Similar Vaccinium species in Europe are called bilberries. Note that there is much confusion in naming of berries in American English. The 'garden huckleberry' (Solanum melanocerasum) is not considered to be a true huckleberry ...huckleberries in the genus Vaccinium. The easiest way to distinguish the bilberry is that it produces single or pairs of berries on the bush instead of clusters like the blueberry. Another way to distinguish them is that while blueberry fruit meat is light green, bilberry is red or purple. In this way you can also distinguish the bilberry eater from the blueberry eater by his red fingers and lips. Bilberry is used as a food plant by the larvaeA larva (Latin; plural larvae) is a juvenile form of animal with indirect development, undergoing metamorphosis (for example, insects or amphibians). The larva can look completely different from the adult form, for example, a caterpillar differs from a butterfly. Larvae often have special (larval) organs which do not occur in the adult form. The larvae of some species can become pubescent and not further develop into the ...larvae of some LepidopteraNo quick definition available. Lepidoptera species - see list of Lepidoptera which feed on VacciniumVaccinium species are used as food plants by the larvae of a number of Lepidoptera species including:list of Lepidoptera which feed on Vaccinium.

Bilberries are rarely cultivated but fruits are sometimes collected from wild plants growing on publicly accessible lands, notably in FennoscandiaFennoscandia and Fenno-Scandinavia are geographic and geological terms used to describe the Scandinavian Peninsula, the Kola Peninsula, Karelia, Finland and Denmark. Geologically, the term also alludes to the underlying Fennoscandian Shield of Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Northern Denmark, which is the exposed portion of the Baltic Shield that makes up the bulk of Europe. ...Fennoscandia, ScotlandScotland is a nation in northwest Europe and one of the four constituent countriesThe website of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom refers to "Countries within a country", stating "The United Kingdom is made up of four countries: England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland". of the United Kingdom. It occupies the northern third of the island of Great Britain and shares a land border to the south with England. ...Scotland, IrelandIreland (; Ulster Scots: Airlann) is the third largest island in EuropeGreat Britain being the largest and Iceland being the second largest. and the twentieth largest in the world.See List of islands by area. It lies to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is surrounded by hundreds of islands and ...Ireland and PolandPoland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central EuropeDepending on the definition Poland can be considered part of both Central Europe and Eastern Europe. http://www.poland.pl bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine and Belarus to the east; and the Baltic Sea, Lithuania and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north. ...Poland. Notice that in Fennoscandia, it is an everyman's rightThe freedom to roam, or everyman's right is a term describing the general public's right to access certain public or privately owned land for recreation and exercise. The term is sometimes called right of public access to the wilderness or the right to roam.everyman's right to collect bilberries, irrespective of land ownership. In Ireland the fruit is known as fraughan in English, from the IrishThe 2001 census in Northern Ireland showed that 167,487 (10.4%) people 'had some knowledge of Irish'. Combined, this means that around one in three people (~1.8 million) on the island of Ireland can understand Irish to some extent. On 13 June 2005, EU foreign ministers unanimously decided to make Irish an official language of the European Union. The new arrangements ...Irish fraochán, and is traditionally gathered on the last Sunday in July, known as Fraughan Sunday.

Bilberries were also collected at LughnassadhLughnasadh (Old Irish pronounced ) is a Gaelic holiday traditionally associated with the first of August.Lughnassadh in August, the first traditional harvest festival of the year, as celebrated by the Gaelic people. The crop of bilberries was said to indicate how well the rest of the crops would fare in their harvests later in the year.

The fruits can be eaten fresh, but are more usually made into jamsFruit preserves refers to fruit, or vegetables, that have been prepared and canned for long term storage. The preparation of fruit preserves traditionally involves the use of pectin. There are various types of fruit preserves made globally, and they can be made from sweet or savory ingredients.jams, foolsFool is an English dessert made by mixing sweetened puréed fruit with whipped cream or custard, usually in equal quantities, and chilling for several hours. Traditionally made with gooseberries, the dessert is now commonly made with any seasonal fruit, especially rhubarb. Category:British desserts Category:English cuisinefools, juicesJuice is a liquid naturally contained in vegetable or fruit tissue. For example, orange juice is the liquid extract of the fruit of the orange tree. Juice may be supplied in concentrate form, requiring the user to add water to reconstitute the liquid back to its 'original state' (Generally, concentrates have a noticeably different taste than ...juices or piesA pie is a baked food, with a baked shell usually made of pastry that covers or completely contains a filling of fruit, meat, fish, vegetables, cheeses, creams, chocolate, custards, nuts, or other sweet or savoury ingredients. Pies can be either "one-crust," where the filling is placed in a dish and covered with a pastry/potato mash top before baking, or "two-crust," with the filling completely enclosed in the pastry shell. Some pies have only a bottom crust, generally if ...pies. In FranceFrench cuisine is considered to be one of the world's most refined and elegant styles of cooking. The national cuisine known today has evolved from centuries of social and political change. The Middle Ages brought lavish banquets to the upper class with ornate, heavily seasoned food prepared by chefs such as Guillaume Tirel. The era of the French ...France they are used as a base for liqueursA liqueur is a sweet alcoholic beverage, often flavored with fruits, herbs, spices, flowers, seeds, roots, plants, barks, and sometimes cream. The word liqueur comes from the Latin word liquifacere which means "to dissolve." This refers to the dissolving of the flavorings used to make the liqueur. Liqueurs are not usually aged for long periods, but may have resting periods during their production to allow flavors to marry. In some parts of the world people use the words cordial and liqueur ...liqueurs and are a popular flavouring for sorbetsSorbet (or sherbet) is a frozen dessert made from iced fruit puree and other ingredients. The term "sherbet" is derived from the Turkish word for "sorbet", şerbat which in turn comes from Arabic. Adopted from French tradition, sorbets are traditionally served between the entrée ("appetizer" in North America) and main course in order to cleanse the palate. The FDA does not have a classification for sorbet as it is synonym for ...sorbets and other desserts. In BrittanyBrittany ( pronounced ; , pronounced ; Gallo: Bertaèyn) is a former independent kingdom and duchy, and a province of France. Brittany is one of the six Celtic Nations. It is also, more generally, the name of the cultural area whose limits correspond to the ...Brittany they are often used as a flavouring for crêpesA crêpe (pronounced IPA /kreɪp/, French /kʀɛp/) is a type of very thin cooked pancake usually made from wheat flour. The word, like the pancake itself, is of French origin, deriving from the Latin crispa, meaning "curled".crêpes, and in the VosgesVosges is a French department, named after the Vosges mountain range.Vosges and the Massif CentralThe Massif Central (Occitan: Massís Central / Massís Centrau) is an elevated region in south-central France, consisting of mountains and plateaus. Subject to volcanism that has subsided in the last 10,000 years, these central mountains are separated from the Alps by a deep north-south cleft created by the Rhône River and known in French as the sillon rhodanien (literally "the furrow of the Rhône"). Long a barrier to communication, the opening of the A75 motorway has not only made north-south travel easier ...Massif Central bilberry tart (tarte aux myrtilles) is the most traditional dessert.