alpine bilberry

noun

variants or alpine blueberry

plural alpine bilberries or alpine blueberries

: a low-growing deciduous shrub (Vaccinium uliginosum) of the heath family that grows in cool temperate regions of North America and Eurasia and has pink to white urn-shaped flowers and blue to bluish-black edible berries

also : the berry of the alpine bilberry

Note: The shrub and berry are more commonly known as bog bilberry or bog blueberry.

Word History

First Known Use

1843, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler

The first known use of alpine bilberry was in 1843

See more words from the same year

Cite this Entry

Style

“Alpine bilberry.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/alpine%20bilberry. Accessed 25 Nov. 2024.

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