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I'm trying to figure out what kind of berry this is. It can be found all over the Swiss, French, and Italian alps, generally right where ordinary blueberries are (the ones one would eat). However, they are distinctly different:

  • The flower attachment spot (sorry, non-botanist here) at the tip is square shaped (see photo)
  • Their leaves turn red much later during the season
  • The berry is more elongated when compared to ordinary blueberries, a bit of an ellipsoid

enter image description here

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Possibly Vaccinium gaultherioides (sometimes considered a subspecies of Vaccinium uliginosum), which are present throughout the Alps.

For example, see InfoFlora*:

enter image description here

Vaccinium gaultherioides Bigelow, © Konrad Lauber – Flora Helvetica – 2012 Haupt Bern

You can see the prevelance of this species throughout the Swiss alps in the below range map (also from InfoFlora):

enter image description here

______________________________________enter preformatted text here * the national data center for the Swiss flora

I don't know the flora of the Alps personally and I feel you post lacks enough detail for me to confidently pick and choose among many Vaccinium candidates. From those I've examined, this species seems most visually similar to yours.

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    $\begingroup$ That's definitely it! Thank you so much. I didn't know about InfoFlora. Now I have a way to figure out questions like that in a structured manner, which will be very helpful. $\endgroup$
    – mcsoini
    Dec 1, 2019 at 8:59

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