Bilberry in Polissia
Vaccinium myrtillus
The bilberry is a low shrub up to half a metre tall with angular green twigs and small light green leaves that fall in autumn. The flowers are solitary, globular and greenish-pink. The berries are blue-black with a waxy bloom, purple inside, and stain hands and lips.
In Polissia the bilberry forms continuous carpets in pine and mixed forests on moist soils, especially in pine forests with green moss. The forests of Rivne, Zhytomyr and Volyn regions are famous for their berry patches.
The berries ripen from late June, and at this time Polissia's forests fill up with pickers, while impromptu stalls appear along the roads. The bilberry is an important food for capercaillie, bear, fox and many birds.
Picking berries in nature reserves is prohibited. Outside them, pick by hand, without the “combines” that break the plants. Berry patches are where adders and ticks are most often encountered, so dress accordingly.
When to see: berries from late June to August
Where it was seen in Polissia
Observations from the open scientific database GBIF since 1990.
More in “Plants”
Cranberry
A bog berry of Polissia with thin creeping stems that ripens in autumn and gets sweeter after the first frosts.
Lingonberry
An evergreen dwarf shrub of Polissia's dry pine forests with glossy leaves and red, bitter-sour berries.
Bog bilberry
A bog berry similar to the bilberry but with white flesh; it grows on Polissia's bogs next to marsh Labrador tea.
Marsh Labrador tea
A strong-smelling evergreen shrub of Polissia's bogs that can give you a headache in hot weather; the whole plant is poisonous.