Bilberry
Vaccinium myrtillus
Family · Ericaceae · Harmless
The low shrub of the high northern sierras bearing the most sought-after dark blue berries in the Iberian mountains. In Gerês, Estrela and the Picos, gathering bilberries in August is a ritual with a fixed date.
Uplands · Oak woods
Also known asblaeberry, whortleberry
How to tell it
A shrub twenty to fifty centimetres tall, with green angular-sectioned stems, which is rare and very characteristic. Small oval finely toothed leaves, deciduous. Dark blue berries with a waxy bloom and a crown at the top.
What it is confused with
Bearberry
Arctostaphylos uva-ursi
They share the sierra and the family. Bearberry is prostrate, with a leathery evergreen leaf and a dry red berry; bilberry is upright, with a thin deciduous leaf and a juicy dark blue berry.
Open sheet →What it is for
The berries are eaten raw, in jam and in liqueur, and stain the mouth purple. The leaves were a traditional infusion. Pick by hand, not with a comb: harvesting combs tear off leaves and flowers and compromise the next year's crop.
Traditionally used as food. This is not permission to eat it.
With documented traditional uses. Not a therapeutic indication and not a dose.
The law says
Harvesting is regulated in several natural parks, with quantity limits and a ban on combs. Check the park's rules before picking.