Latin: Vaccinium myrtillus

Also Known As: Black Whortleberry, Whinberry, Dyeberry, Huckleberry, Hurtleberry, Black Whortles, Trackleberry, Hurts, Bleaberry, Airelle

Family:Vacciniaceae

Habitat and Description: Bilberry is a fairly low growing, shrubby perennial, preferring cold climates and growing particularly well in Scotland and places with a similarly cold climate. It likes to grow in hilly, mountainous regions throughout Europe and North America and much prefers acidic soil. It is a small, many branched shrub, and rarely grows more than 1ft tall. The leaves are oval shaped and remind me slightly of the shape of rose leaves, although they are somewhat juicier and have a waxy coating to them. They turn a glorious, highly decorative red in autumn. The flowers are small, bell shaped and waxy, and usually white or ivory coloured. The familiar berries, quite a popular delicacy and a renowned anti oxidant, are a dusky blue black colour, with a silvery bloom when they are ripe.

Parts Used: Berries and sometimes leaves.

Constituents: As with many of the better known herbs, Bilberry has a fairly substantial list of known constituents, including but not limited to anthocyanosides; vitamin C; Catechins. The leaves contain flavonoids, caffeic acid derivatives, catechins, iridoids and quinolizidine alkaloids.

Planetary Influence: Jupiter

Associated Deities and Heroes: I could find absolutely no information anywhere on possible deities that could be associated with this plant, which I think is pretty unusual. However since the berries are such a dark colour and it likes such wild, hilly places, maybe it could be associated with the Cailleach Bheur? She is, after all, one of the main Goddesses of the wild places of Scotland!

Festival: Lammastide / Lughnasadh

Constitution:Cool and dry but only mildly so. Typical of a Jupiter plant, it is more temperate than anything.

Actions and Indications: Both the berries and leaves are used medicinally, so I’ll write about them in two separate chunks. First up, the berries as they are better known medicinally.

Bilberries have high levels of vitamin C and their cultivated close relative is a popular fruit for this reason due to their anti oxidant effects. This, however, is only one of their useful properties. The fruit also has an affinity with the capillaries of the eyes, and can be used to improve the eyesight and reduce the chances of retinopathy where this is associated with diabetic complications or high blood pressure.. It can also be used to improve the memory due to that same effect on the vascular system, and included in medicines that need to have an overall tonic effect on the cardiovascular system, as the proanthocyanins in the plant have a strengthening and protective influence on the walls of the vascular system. To continue on the topic of bilberry and the eyes, the berries can also be used to improve eye vision and the eye’s ability to adapt to glare, as well as reducing eye fatigue – probably a blessing for all you night drivers! It combines very well with Ginkgo (Ginkgo biloba) for this purpose.

The berries, dried and administered in an infusion, are a great astringent that can relieve diarrhoea and dysentery. The berries stimulate the production of mucous in the stomach, and can have some effect in preventing the formation of gastric ulcers. The plant can also help Crohn’s disease.

The leaves are hypoglycaemic, and a tincture or tea of them can be used as a diabetic remedy although please note that it is not a good idea to mess around with your medication if you have diabetes – if you want to give this a try, I strongly recommend that you find a herbalist in your area and work with them and with your GP. In addition to this, the leaves can be quite potent and while they are useful in the treatment of bladder infections and diabetes, it should not be taken continuously as it can be quite strong. If using the leaves for this purpose, they need to be gathered before the plant sets fruit. Several authors mention that bilberry can be used to treat and relieve relieve urinary tract infections such as cystitis, and, due to their effect on the body’s water balance as a diuretic, can relieve water retention and oedema. The frustrating thing, however, is that the opinion seems to differ as to whether this applies to the leaves or the berries, or both. The general concensus seems to indicate that it’s the leaves that are used as the urinary antibacterial.

Spiritual and Energetic Uses: Nothing found on this so far, nor have I picked anything up from tasting the herb myself. I’ll have another go at it sometime and will post the results here if I get any this time around!

Folklore and Magical Uses: Since so little lore seems to exist on the elusive bilberry, I’ve combined these two sections into one for this monograph. To start, then, with magical uses – bilberry is deeply protective, and can ward evil from a person, whether eaten or worn on the person. I suspect the same use probably applies to the leaf as well but as usual, I don’t have any information to back this up.

Historically, the bilberry has been known and loved since Dioscorides’s time – the renowned physician spoke highly of the plant.

Dose: 4mls 3 times a day of the liquid extract, 1tsp of the herb to a cup of water three times a day in the case of an infusion. Having some trouble finding dosage instructions for the leaf, but suspect this is probably a good thing as the leaf probably isn’t such a good idea for the home herbalist anyway.

Contraindications: The leaves contain high levels of tannins so should not be used over long periods of time – three weeks on and three weeks off seems to be the standard recommendation.

Notes: This has been easily one of the most irritating plants I have written about so far. There is an almost complete lack of information on anything other than the medicinal uses of this plants in all my books. This has lead me to the startling realization that I need more books. Seriously.

Brought to you by Alex English of http://www.eldrumherbs.co.uk