''Empetrum nigrum'', crowberry, black crowberry, or, in western Alaska, blackberry, is a flowering plant 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 The Circumboreal Region in phytogeography is a floristic region within the Holarctic Kingdom in Eurasia and North America, as delineated by such geobotanists as Josias Braun-Blanquet and Armen Takhtajan. It is the largest floristic region in ...

distribution in the Northern Hemisphere. It is usually dioecious, but there is a

bisexual Bisexuality is a romantic or sexual attraction or behavior toward both males and females, or to more than one gender. It may also be defined to include romantic or sexual attraction to people regardless of their sex or gender identity, whic ...

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 shrub with a creeping habit. The

leaves A leaf ( : leaves) is any of the principal appendages of a vascular plant stem, usually borne laterally aboveground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", while the leaves, ste ...

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 orchestr ...

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 fruits 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

distribution in the Northern Hemisphere. It is also native in the Falkland Islands.

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 fo ...

have explained the striking geographic distribution of crowberries as a result of long-distance migratory birds 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, 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 and the Sami. 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 in

rock garden A rock garden, also known as a rockery and formerly as a rockwork, is a garden, or more often a part of a garden, with a landscaping framework of rocks, stones, and gravel, with planting appropriate to this setting. Usually these are small ...

s, notably the yellow-foliaged cultivar 'Lucia'. The fruit is high in

anthocyanin Anthocyanins (), also called anthocyans, are water-soluble vacuolar pigments that, depending on their pH, may appear red, purple, blue, or black. In 1835, the German pharmacist Ludwig Clamor Marquart gave the name Anthokyan to a chemical com ...

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