Maviyemiş | Blueberry

Blueberries are perennial flowering plants with blue or purple berries. They are classified in the section Cyanococcus within the genus Vaccinium. Vaccinium also includes cranberries, bilberries, huckleberries and Madeira blueberries.  Commercial blueberries—both wild (lowbush) and cultivated (highbush)—are all native to North America. Highbush blueberries were first introduced to Germany, Sweden and the Netherlands in the 1930s, and have since been spread to numerous other countries of Europe.

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

Blueberry, is not found in Turkey's natural flora and falls into 3 different types, is cultivated by especially Black Sea people. Species included in the genus Vaccinium and cultivated are BLUEBERRY, CRANBERRY and LINGONBERRY. All these fruit types, have different plant and fruit characteristics, cultivation, evaluation methods and Latin names. These species, which were not cultivated in Turkey until the 2000s, were named forest fruits or blueberries, in Turkish they are cranberry, blueberry, lingonberry, bilberry, whortleberry, huckleberry etc.

In Turkey, four different natural blueberry species (Vaccinium vitis idea L., Vaccinium myrtillus L., Vaccinium, arctostaphylos L., Vaccinium uliginosum L.) cultivation continue. In addition to these, in some provinces (Rize, Trabzon and Artvin) in the Eastern Black Sea Region, tall varieties of Vaccinium corymbosum L. species (Brigitta, Bluecrop, Bluejay, Duke, Nelson, Earliblue, Patriot and Spartan) were adapted and successful results were obtained.

 Many Vaccinium species such as cranberry (Vaccinium macrocarpon Ait) and lingonberry (Vaccinium vitis-idea L.) are wrongly called ‘yaban mersini’. Therefore, the species included in the Vaccinium genus, which are cultivated, should be identified with different names in Turkish and should be marketed under these names.

Kadife Yapraklı yaban mersini (Vaccinium myrtilloides)

Yer yaban mersini (Vaccinium boreale)

Kısa boylu yaban mersini (Vaccinium angustifolium)

Kısa Çalı Formlu Siyah yaban mersini (Vaccinium angustifolium)

Tavşan gözlü yaban mersini (Vaccinium ashei)

Bataklık yaban mersini (Vaccinium uliginosum)

Yüksek Çalı Formlu yaban mersini (Vaccinium corybosum)

Adi yaban mersini (Vaccinium myrtillus)[5]

An Ottoman document dated 1879 mentions a type of tea tree that was discovered in abundance in the forests, countryside and gardens of some people in Rize, at a time when today's tea plant was not yet grown. According to this document, the local people train this plant with labor and money and sell its leaves for ten mecidiyes per kilo. A forest tax is also requested from this tea-like plant, which was taxed by the government of that time. Since the Russian Government does not receive anything from this plant in the name of tax, there is a concern that these teas will be smuggled abroad. Upon the letter of the Trabzon governorship, the Ottoman Government requests samples of this plant. It is recommended to investigate whether it is beneficial or not, and then to attempt to make and expand agriculture, provided that it is also under the control of the Ministry of Forestry.