Preiselbeere

Landscape Uses:Border, Massing, Seashore. Requires a moist but freely-draining lime free soil, preferring one that is rich in peat or a light loamy soil with added leaf-mould. Prefers a very acid soil with a pH in the range of 4.5 to 6, plants soon become chlorotic when lime is present. Succeeds in full sun or light shade though it fruits better in a sunny position. Requires shelter from strong winds. Dislikes root disturbance, plants are best grown in pots until being planted out in their permanent positions. Sometimes cultivated for its edible fruit, there are some named varieties. 'Koralle' has large and conspicuous berries. The fruit hangs on the plant all winter if it is not picked. The flowers produce a great deal of nectar and are very attractive to bees. Plants in this genus are notably resistant to honey fungus. Special Features:North American native, Edible, Wetlands plant, Attractive flowers or blooms. The plant is heat tolerant in zones 6 through 1. (Plant Hardiness Zones show how well plants withstand cold winter temperatures. Plant Heat Zones show when plants would start suffering from the heat. The Plant Heat Zone map is based on the number of "heat days" experienced in a given area where the temperature climbs to over 86 degrees F (30°C). At this temperature, many plants begin to suffer physiological damage. Heat Zones range from 1 (no heat days) to 12 (210 or more heat days). For example Heat Zone. 11-1 indicates that the plant is heat tolerant in zones 11 through 1.) For polyculture design as well as the above-ground architecture (form - tree, shrub etc. and size shown above) information on the habit and root pattern is also useful and given here if available. An evergreen. A clumping mat former. Forming a dense prostrate carpet with a limited spread [1-2]. The root pattern is suckering with new plants from underground runners away from the plant [1-2].

Edible Parts: Fruit Edible Uses: Tea Fruit - raw or cooked. Quite pleasant to eat. An acid flavour, they are used like cranberries in preserves and are considered by many people to be superior to cranberries. The taste is better after a frost. Occasionally the plants bear 2 crops in a year. The fruit is about 6mm in diameter. A tea is made from the leaves. This should not be drunk on a regular basis because it contains the toxin 'arbutin'.

Dye A yellow dye is obtained from the leaves and stems. A purple dye is obtained from the fruit. Can be grown as a ground cover plant, spreading by underground runners. It needs weeding for the first year or so. Plants are best spaced about 30cm apart each way.

Heimisch: Alaska, Albania, Alberta, Aleutian Is., Altay, Amur, Austria, Baltic States, Belarus, Belgium, British Columbia, Bulgaria, Buryatiya, Central European Russia, China North-Central, Chita, Connecticut, Czechia-Slovakia, Denmark, East European Russia, Finland, France, Føroyar, Germany, Gjerstad, Global, Great Britain, Greece, Greenland, Hungary, Iceland, Iceland; Faeroe Isl.; England (England, Wales, Isle of Man, Scotland, Outer Hebrides, Orkney Isl., Shetland Isl.); Ireland (Ireland, Northern Ireland); Denmark; Norway; Sweden; Finland; Netherlands; Belgium; Luxembourg; Germany (Brandenburg, Berlin, Baden-Württemberg, Bayern, Hessen, Hamburg, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Niedersachsen, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Rheinland-Pfalz, Schleswig-Holstein, Sachsen, Sachsen-Anhalt, Thüringen); Switzerland; Liechtenstein; Austria; Poland; Czech Republic; Slovakia; Hungary; Spain (Pyrénées); Andorra; France; Italy; Slovenia; Croatia; Bosnia & Hercegovina; Montenegro; Serbia; Kosovo; North Macedonia; Albania; Romania; Bulgaria; NE-Greece (mountains along border); Estonia; Latvia; Lithuania; Belarus; C-European Russia; E-European Russia; N-European Russia; W-European Russia; Ukraine; Siberia (Altai, Buryatia, Chita, Irkutsk, Krasnoyarsk, Tuva, W-Siberia, Yakutia); Russian Far East (Amur, Kamchatka, Khabarovsk, Kuril Isl., Magadan, Primorye, Sakhalin); Kazakhstan; Northern Caucasus; Georgia [Caucasus]; Turkey (NE-Anatolia); China (Heilongjiang, Jilin, Nei Mongol, Shanxi, Xinjiang); Mongolia; North Korea; Japan (Hokkaido, Shikoku, Kyushu); Alaska; Aleutes; Greenland; Canada (Alberta, British Columbia, Labrador, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Northern Territories, Nunavut, Ontario, Prince Edward Isl., Québec, Saskatchewan, Yukon); St. Pierre et Miquelon; USA (Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, Vermont, Wisconsin), Inner Mongolia, Ireland, Irkutsk, Italy, Japan, Kamchatka, Kazakhstan, Khabarovsk, Korea, Krasnoyarsk, Kuril Is., Labrador, Leksvik, Lunde, Magadan, Maine, Manchuria, Manitoba, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mongolia, NW. Balkan Pen., Netherlands, New Brunswick, New Hampshire, Newfoundland, North Caucasus, North European Russia, Northwest European Russia, Northwest Territories, Norway, Nova Scotia, Nunavut, Ontario, Poland, Primorye, Prince Edward I., Québec, Romania, Sakhalin, Sande, Saskatchewan, South European Russia, Strandvik, Sweden, Switzerland, Sør Varanger, Transcaucasus, Trondheim, Tuva, Türkiye, Ukraine, Vermont, West Siberia, Wisconsin, Xinjiang, Yakutiya, Ytre Sandsvær, Yukon Eingeführt: South Georgia