Vaccinium myrtillus or European blueberry is a holarctic species of shrub with edible fruit of blue color, known by the common names bilberry, blaeberry, wimberry, and whortleberry.

[4] The leaves are 1–3 cm (3⁄8–1+1⁄8 in) long and ovate to lanceolate or broadly elliptic in shape, with glandular to finely toothed margins;[4] they are prominently veined on the lower surface.

Small, hermaphrodite flowers with thick stems (about 2–3 millimetres or 1⁄16–1⁄8 inch long) grow individually from the leaf axils and nod downward.

[10] Regional names include blaeberry (Scotland), urts or hurts (Cornwall and Devon),[11] hurtleberry,[12] myrtleberry,[13] wimberry, whinberry, winberry,[14] and fraughan.

[5] The fruits will stain hands, teeth and tongue deep blue or purple while eating and so it was traditionally used as a dye for food and clothes in Britain.

[20] Bilberry dietary supplements are marketed in the United States, although there is little evidence these products have any effect on health or diseases.

[3] In cooking, the bilberry fruit is commonly used for pies, tarts and flans, cakes, jams, muffins, cookies, sauces, syrups, juices, and candies.