Bilberry - Vaccinium myrtillus

Hairless creeping plant to 60 cm, with several erect stems. Twigs three angled, green. Leaves oval, bright green, toothed and flat. Flowers pale green tinged with pink, lantern shaped 4 to 6 mm, usually solitary. Berry globose, bluish black.

Heath and woodland.

April to June.

Deciduous shrub.

Widespread and quite common in most of Britain except in parts of central and eastern England.

Not common in Leicestershire & Rutland. In Leicestershire it is almost exclusively confined to the Charnwood forest area. In the 1979 Flora survey of Leicestershire it was found in 20 of the 617 tetrads.