''Arctous alpina'' ( syn. ''Arctostaphylos alpina''), the alpine bearberry, mountain bearberry or black bearberry, is a dwarf shrub in the heather

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

Ericaceae The Ericaceae () are a Family (biology), 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 about 4,250 known species spread acros ...

. The

basionym In the scientific name of organisms, basionym or basyonym means the original name on which a new name is based; the author citation of the new name should include the authors of the basionym in parentheses. The term "basionym" is used in both botan ...

of this species is ''Arbutus alpina'' .

Description

''Arctous alpina'' is a procumbent shrub usually less than high with a woody stem and straggling branches. The leaves are alternate and wither in the autumn but remain on the plant for another year. The leaves are stalked and are oval with serrated margins and a network of veins. They often turn red to scarlet in autumn. The flowers are in groups of two to five, white or pink and urn-shaped and about long. They have five sepals, five fused petals with five small projecting lobes, ten stamens and a single carpel. The fruits are spherical, long, initially green, then red and finally glossy black and succulent when ripe. This plant flowers in June.Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, Native Plant Information Network—NPIN: ''Arctostaphylos alpina'' (Alpine bearberry)
Accessed 2013-02-02

Distribution and habitat

''Arctous alpina'' has a circumpolar distribution. It is found at high latitudes, from

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

east across

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and

Greenland Greenland is an autonomous territory in the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark. It is by far the largest geographically of three constituent parts of the kingdom; the other two are metropolitan Denmark and the Faroe Islands. Citizens of Greenlan ...

. Its southern limits in Europe are the

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and the

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, in Asia, the

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and

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, and in North America,

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in the west, and

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and

New Hampshire New Hampshire ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...

in the east. Its natural habitat is moorland, dry forests with

birch A birch is a thin-leaved deciduous hardwood tree of the genus ''Betula'' (), in the family Betulaceae, which also includes alders, hazels, and hornbeams. It is closely related to the beech- oak family Fagaceae. The genus ''Betula'' contains 3 ...

and

pine A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. ''World Flora Online'' accepts 134 species-rank taxa (119 species and 15 nothospecies) of pines as cu ...

and hummocks covered in moss at the edges of bogs.

Ecology

''Arctous alpina'' forms a

symbiotic Symbiosis (Ancient Greek : living with, companionship < : together; and ''bíōsis'': living) is any type of a close and long-term biolo ...

relationship life with fungi which supply it with nutrients such as phosphorus. The berries are appreciated by birds.

References

External links

* *
USDA Plants Profile for ''Arctostaphylos alpina'' (alpine bearberry) University of Michigan—Dearborn: Native American Ethnobotany for ''Arctostaphylos alpina''
— ''traditional medicinal and culinary uses''.

Flora of North America treatment of ''Arctous alpina''
{{Taxonbar, from1=Q10903109, from2=Q548530 Arbutoideae Alpine flora Flora of Europe Flora of Northern America Flora of temperate Asia Plants described in 1753 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus Plants used in traditional Native American medicine Threatened flora of the United States