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Heath family (Ericaceae)
Dwarf shrub or shrub up to 100 cm high. Stems cylindrical, green when young, brown-grey later on. Leaves grey-green above, blue-grey below, almost circular or obovate, of size 1-3 x 0.5-1.5 cm, slightly downcurving. Flowers hang down in clusters at twig-ends. Corolla white or pinkish, barrel-shaped and of length 4-6 mm, formed from 4-5 petals. Fruit an edible berry c. 6 mm long, blue-black with a waxy coating. Flowers May-Jun.
Grows on nutrient-poor, moist or wet soils. Present in marshy coniferous forest and moist pine forest, and on raised bogs and transitional peatlands.
Descriptions devised by the team at the Independent Department of Forest Botany, Warsaw University of Life Sciences, i.e. L. Witkowska-Żuk, K. Marciszewska, W. Ciurzycki, A. Obidziński and P. Zaniewski
