Small cranberry, Dwarf cranberry
Vaccinium microcarpum

Family: Ericaceae

What it is like

An evergreen shrub. It has thin creeping stems. It has slightly longer flower stalks than small cranberry (Vaccinium oxycoccus). The leaves are smaller and the fruit elongated. The leaves are very small and leathery. The edges roll under. The leaves are 3-7.5 mm long by 1-2.5 mm wide. They are dark green above and have a bluish bloom underneath. The flowers occur as 1-4 on the end of the stem. They are small and pink to red. The fruit are dark red berries. They are about 1 cm across. They are edible.

Where it is found

It is a cold temperate plant. It grows in sphagnum bogs. It grows in alpine sphagnum bogs in the Rocky Mountains. Subarctic, alpine.

Countries/locations it is found in

Alaska, Asia, Britain, Canada, China, Europe, Iceland, Japan, Korea, Mongolia, North America, Russia, Scotland, Siberia

How it is used for food

The fruit are picked and eaten.

Edible parts

Fruit

How it is grown

Its other names

Local names

Bog cranberry, Timagliq

Synonyms

Oxycoccus microcarpus Turcz. ex Rupr.; Oxycoccus palustris var. pusillus Dunal; Oxycoccus pusillus (Dunal) Nakai; Vaccinium microcarpum Hook.f.; Vaccinium oxycoccus subsp. microcarpum A. Blytt;