''Empetrum nigrum'', crowberry, black crowberry, or, in western Alaska, blackberry, is a

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. The term "angiosperm" is derived from the Greek words ('container, vessel') and ('seed'), and refers to those plants th ...

species in the heather family

Ericaceae The Ericaceae are a family of flowering plants, commonly known as the heath or heather family, found most commonly in acidic and infertile growing conditions. The family is large, with c.4250 known species spread across 124 genera, making it th ...

with a near circumboreal distribution in the Northern Hemisphere. It is usually dioecious, but there is a bisexual

tetraploid Polyploidy is a condition in which the cells of an organism have more than one pair of ( homologous) chromosomes. Most species whose cells have nuclei (eukaryotes) are diploid, meaning they have two sets of chromosomes, where each set contains ...

subspecies, ''Empetrum nigrum'' subsp. ''hermaphroditum'', which occurs in more northerly locations and at higher altitude.

Description

''Empetrum nigrum'' is a low growing,

evergreen In botany, an evergreen is a plant which has foliage that remains green and functional through more than one growing season. This also pertains to plants that retain their foliage only in warm climates, and contrasts with deciduous plants, whic ...

shrub with a creeping habit. The leaves are long,

arranged In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orchest ...

alternately along the stem. The stems are red when young and then fade to brown. It blooms between May and June. The flowers are small and not very noticeable, with greenish-pink sepals that turn reddish purple. The round

fruit In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants that is formed from the ovary after flowering. Fruits are the means by which flowering plants (also known as angiosperms) disseminate their seeds. Edible fruits in particu ...

s are drupes, wide, usually black or purplish-black but occasionally red. The metabolism and photosynthetic parameters of ''Empetrum'' can be altered in winter-warming experiments. Alaskan Crowberry from alpine-tundra regions

Alaskan Crowberry from alpine-tundra regions

Subspecies

* ''Empetrum nigrum'' subsp. ''asiaticum'' (Nakai ex H.Ito) Kuvaev – Korean crowberry * ''Empetrum nigrum'' subsp. ''subholarcticum'' (V.N.Vassil.) Kuvaev (synonym: ''Empetrum subholarcticum'' V.N.Vassil.)

Distribution and habitat

The species has a near circumboreal distribution in the Northern Hemisphere. It is also native in the

Falkland Islands The Falkland Islands (; es, Islas Malvinas, link=no ) is an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean on the Patagonian Shelf. The principal islands are about east of South America's southern Patagonian coast and about from Cape Dubouze ...

Evolutionary biologists Evolutionary biology is the subfield of biology that studies the evolutionary processes (natural selection, common descent, speciation) that produced the diversity of life on Earth. It is also defined as the study of the history of life f ...

have explained the striking geographic distribution of crowberries as a result of long-distance

migratory birds Bird migration is the regular seasonal movement, often north and south along a flyway, between breeding and wintering grounds. Many species of bird migrate. Migration carries high costs in predation and mortality, including from hunting by ...

dispersing seeds from one pole to the other. ''Empetrum nigrum'' grows in acidic soils in shady, moist areas.

Ecology

The plant is a food source of several moths, including the Black Mountain, Mountain Burnet and Broad-bordered White Underwing.

Uses

The fruit is edible and can be dried. However, it has an acidic taste and can cause headaches. While abundant in

Scandinavia Scandinavia; Sámi languages: /. ( ) is a subregion in Northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. In English usage, ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and Swe ...

, it is treasured for its ability to make good wine, juices, or jelly. In subarctic areas, the plant has been a vital addition to the diet of the

Inuit Inuit (; iu, ᐃᓄᐃᑦ 'the people', singular: Inuk, , dual: Inuuk, ) are a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic and subarctic regions of Greenland, Labrador, Quebec, Nunavut, the Northwest Territories ...

and the

Sami Acronyms * SAMI, ''Synchronized Accessible Media Interchange'', a closed-captioning format developed by Microsoft * Saudi Arabian Military Industries, a government-owned defence company * South African Malaria Initiative, a virtual expertise ...

. The Dena'ina (Tanaina) harvest it for food, sometimes storing in quantity for winter, and like it mixed with lard or oil. The species can also be grown as a

ground cover Groundcover or ground cover is any plant that grows over an area of ground. Groundcover provides protection of the topsoil from erosion and drought. In an ecosystem, the ground cover forms the layer of vegetation below the shrub layer known as ...

, or as an

ornamental plant Ornamental plants or garden plants are plants that are primarily grown for their beauty but also for qualities such as scent or how they shape physical space. Many flowering plants and garden varieties tend to be specially bred cultivars that ...

in rock gardens, notably the yellow-foliaged

cultivar A cultivar is a type of cultivated plant that people have selected for desired traits and when propagated retain those traits. Methods used to propagate cultivars include: division, root and stem cuttings, offsets, grafting, tissue culture ...

'Lucia'. The fruit is high in anthocyanin pigment and can be used to make a natural food dye.

Culture

The Scottish Highlands Clan Maclean's badge is believed to be ''E. nigrum''; cuttings of it would be raised on standards to denote clan identity and allegiance.

References

Forest Service Fire Ecology
{{Taxonbar, from=Q202305 nigrum Plants described in 1753 Greenlandic cuisine Flora of Subarctic America Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus