Talk:Bilberry

Picture[edit]

There's a perfectly nice picture of some bilberries on Commons at Blaeberry.jpeg but for some reason I cna't get it to load, I expect I'm making some format error - can anyone fix it? Thanks. seglea 20:03, 14 August 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Done. MPF 21:58, 14 August 2005 (UTCT

Vision[edit]

The second study mentioned shows there is no effect on vision which is contradictory to the statement about positive effects.

Indeed it does, and the others have no bearing on night vision. Also, it appears the RAF story is unknown in the RAF. Appropriate edits made. --Rallette 10:52, 31 March 2006 (UTC)[reply]

If I'm not mistaken the story about the pilots eating carrots to improve their night vision comes from WW I. By WW II the use of infrared for such things was fairly well-known. I'd change it but I don't have a citation available. JDZeff (talk) 23:30, 27 July 2015 (UTC)[reply]

I think it should be remembered that from 1939 to 1944 members of the American, British and Canadian forces were encouraged to eat various substances to improve night vision. The substances, such as carrots, were all logically related to night vision but not necessarily all that effective. It was a British Intelligence mis-information campaign that was part of the "bodyguard of lies" accompanying the deployment of millimeter wavelength radar aboard destroyers and maritime patrol aircraft. It was thought that the early successes of radar would be blamed by the Germans on bilberry enhanced night vision and thus delay the enemy from guessing that a new radar was being deployed against them. source not immediately available, sorry. TinkersDam (talk) 12:52, 30 August 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Winberry[edit]

I redirected winberry here as it was a candidate for deletion due to lack of sources. Here (abridged) is what the OED says

Whimberry ... wynneberie, win(ne)berry, wind-berry, whinberry, w(h)imberry. The bilberry or whortleberry..... 1610 Shuttleworths' Acc. (Chetham Soc.) 189 Given to a wenche which brought winberries from Burneley woode ,..., 1906 Westm. Gaz. 24 Aug. 10/1 Bilberry..is merely the midland name for the bleaberry of the North, the whortleberry of the West, and the whinberry of the Welsh Border. OED SECOND EDITION 1989

certainly around here in the High Peak they are called w(h)inberry.Billlion 19:14, 7 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I was hunting for wimberry or wimberries, and eventually ended up here. Man vyi 12:24, 17 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

W(h)imberries also along the Anglo-Welsh border and in South Wales. -- Picapica (talk) 19:39, 22 April 2017 (UTC)[reply]

WP:ATM[edit]

Laboratory studies have shown that bilberry consumption can inhibit or reverse eye disorders such as macular degeneration^[3], but this therapeutic use remains clinically unproven.

Erm, what? If it's been tested in a laboratory setting, does that not mean it has been proven? Honestly, it seems like someone went along and did one of those however.... Oc t ane ^{[improve me?]} 19.05.08 0019 (UTC)

POV[edit]

The fruit is smaller than that of the blueberry, and similar, yet far superior in taste.

This seems POV to me. Citation? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Temtem (talk • contribs) 00:01, 10 December 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Blaeberry not same as Bilberry perhaps[edit]

Apparently, the blaeberry and bilberry may not be the same berry; although they are related according to the author of the aforementioned web page. Unfortunately I don't have time to follow this now ... if some adventurous Scot might take up the research and editing process it would be appreciated. JimScott (talk) 04:15, 3 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

That web page makes it clear that it is talking about blaeberry as Vaccinium myrtillus, which is indeed what is called bilberry (whortleberry, whinberry etc) elsewhere. The page is actually saying that blaeberry is not the same as blueberry, despite sometimes being called the European blueberry. All that is true, and is consistent with this article. Richard New Forest (talk) 09:54, 4 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

== Bilberry/Blueberry distinction== The assertion, found in a number of Wiki articles, that the bilberry can be distinguished from the blueberry by the purple-red color of its pulp seems to be erroneous. The wild blueberries common throughout south western British Columbia contain pulp of a decidedly dark blue to wine red color, in marked contrast to the whitish to green hue of that of the cultivated berries grown commercially, yet no one to my knowledge has ever suggested that the wild varieties are anything other than true blueberries. Orthotox (talk) 05:37, 5 August 2012 (UTC)[reply]

External links modified[edit]

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Checked as ok. --Zefr (talk) 15:24, 2 November 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Plant or berry?[edit]

I adjusted a sentence in the article because when I first read it, it seemed to be talking about bilberries as a plant - because the previous sentence had been doing that - and it thus didn't make sense i.e. [Bilberry plants] "have a smooth, circular outline at the end opposite their point of attachment". So I changed the sentence to make it obvious that the fruits were now being referred to, in contrast to the previous sentence when the word "bilberries" was referring to the plants. This was reverted by Zefr as being awkward and unnecessary. If I had thought it unnecessary, I wouldn't have done it. PaleCloudedWhite (talk) 16:25, 7 May 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Maybe you can try a different edit. Reading the rest of the sentence, it's clear the discussion was about the fruit. --Zefr (talk) 18:34, 7 May 2017 (UTC)[reply]

I have changed it to read "bilberry fruits...". Previously I found that, on first reading, I stopped reading halfway through the sentence, because my brain was dealing in bilberry plants, not bilberry fruit, and I couldn't make sense of bilberry plants with a smooth circular outline. If it can be avoided, it is preferable not to have to read a whole sentence before its subject matter is clarified. PaleCloudedWhite (talk) 18:49, 7 May 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Simple change, but effective! Thanks.--Zefr (talk) 20:09, 7 May 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Etymology[edit]

The discussion on etymology is strange. The name bilberry is surely a corruption of the Scottish blaeberry, in turn based on the Scandinavian name for the berry, blåbær (lit: blueberry). I have no idea what "bølle" has to do with anything -- bølle means "bully". 31.211.215.201 (talk) 21:33, 27 June 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Merger suggestion[edit]

Hi @Bert.Roos: Since they're not the same thing that doesn't seem like a good idea to me. Invasive Spices (talk) 16:56, 15 May 2021 (UTC)[reply]