Cranberry

Taxonomic information

Common Name: Cranberry

Latin Name: Vaccinium oxycoccos

Family: Ericaceae

Description

The native cranberry is a tiny creeping evergreen shrub, with thread-like stems, widely spaced leaves and bright pink flowers which develop into edible red fruits. This is not to be confused with the American cranberry whose fruits are used to make cranberry sauce and many other culinary delights.

Cranberry grows in bogs and very wet heaths. It is locally frequent in suitable habitats in Britain, but is absent from most of southern England and northern Scotland.

In the Yorkshire Dales National Park it can be seen creeping through Sphagnum mosses on bog habitats, for example, in the Ingleborough area (Ribblesdale), on the moors between Nidderdale and Wharfdale and rarely in upper Wensleydale.