Cranberry
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Cranberries are commonly associated with Christmas.
The perfect accompaniment to a roast turkey; their bright red berries are best enjoyed in sauces and preserves.
Cranberry is a North American species that is widely grown in North America and Central Europe for its edible fruits.
Plant description
A low-growing, trailing shrub with greenish leaves and short upright branches that bear white to pink flowers, followed by red to pink berries.
Plant uses
Food and drink
Cranberry fruit are rarely eaten raw due to their bitter taste but are used in preserves and sauces. The berries are commonly served in a sauce alongside a roast turkey at Christmas.
Health
There is some evidence to suggest cranberry fruits or their juice can be used to treat certain urinary tract infections but more research is required to support this.
Did you know?
In a method known as wet harvesting, bogs where cranberry plants are growing are flooded so the ripe, bright red berries float to the surface of the water, where they are collected. These flooded cranberry bogs make for a stunning visual spectacle during harvest season.
The cranberry is in the genus Vaccinium, which also includes the blueberry, the lingonberry and the huckleberry
Where in the world?
Wetlands including bogs, fens, marshes, swamps, and wet shores
Find it in our gardens
Kew Gardens
A botanic garden in southwest London with the world’s most diverse living plant collection.
Location
Near Kew Palace
View map of Kew Gardens
