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Vaccinium vitis-idaea

Shrub

HomeShrubVaccinium vitis-idaea

Sunny mountain meadows, peat moors and pine woods, on acid soils.

Family: Ericaceae
Height: 0.3 m / 1 ft
Sun, Semi-shade
Light, Medium Soil
Moist

Plant Rating

Edible Uses: 3 of 5
Medicinal Uses: 2 of 5
Other Uses: 3 of 5

Native Habitat

Cowberry, Lingonberry, Northern mountain cranberry, Cranberry Vaccinium vitis-idaea native habitat is Sunny mountain meadows, peat moors and pine woods, on acid soils.

Edible Uses

Fruit - raw or cooked. Quite pleasant to eat. An acid flavour, they are used like cranberries in preserves and are considered by many people to be superior to cranberries. The taste is better after a frost. Occasionally the plants bear 2 crops in a year. The fruit is about 6mm in diameter. A tea is made from the leaves. This should not be drunk on a regular basis because it contains the toxin 'arbutin'.

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