Fruit
Bog cranberry
Vaccinium oxycoccos L. (Oxycoccus palustris Pers.) · small cranberry, cranberry, marsh whortleberry · Polish: Żurawina błotna
Edible
How to identify it
- Delicate dwarf shrub with thread-like shoots creeping over moss (up to 100 cm).
- Small, evergreen, ovate leaves.
- Pink flowers with the petals turned back (June–August).
- Round, red, sour berries up to 1 cm across, lying on the moss.
Where it grows
Raised and transition bogs, and bog woodland; needs acidic, wet soil.
In the kitchen and the home medicine cabinet
Preserves, jellies, juices and kissel, a relish for meat; nalewka (e.g. żurawinówka biłgorajska, which is on Poland's list of traditional products). The berries ripen from September to late autumn and can stay on the plants over winter; they keep for months.
Caution Bogs are sensitive and dangerous habitats (soft, sinking ground) — walk carefully and do not damage the mosses. Many bogs lie within nature reserves and national parks, where picking is prohibited. Cranberry is the food plant of a protected butterfly, the cranberry blue (modraszek bagniczek).
Frequently asked questions
When is Bog cranberry in season?
In Poland, usually in September, October, November.
Sources
- Wikipedia: Żurawina błotna
- Nadleśnictwo Browsk (Lasy Państwowe): Las dalej darzy – żurawina (05.11.2019)
- Ministerstwo Rolnictwa: Żurawinówka biłgorajska – lista produktów tradycyjnych
- KPODR (D. Metera, 2021): wyciąg z przepisów – ustawa o ochronie przyrody art. 15
Last checked: 9 November 2026. Spotted a mistake? Write to us.
