''Empetrum eamesii'', common name purple crowberry, is a North American species of dwarf evergreen

shrub A shrub or bush is a small to medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from trees by their multiple ...

Description

The species forms a low-lying shrub with prostrate stems, forming a mat on the ground. Leaves are

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or in

whorls A whorl ( or ) is an individual circle, oval, volution or equivalent in a whorled pattern, which consists of a spiral or multiple concentric objects (including circles, ovals and arcs). In nature File:Photograph and axial plane floral diagram ...

. Flowers are solitary near the tips of branches, each with 3 white petals. Fruits are spherical, pink or red in subsp. ''earnsii'', purple to reddish-purple in subsp. ''atropurpureum.''Flora of North America v 8 p 488.
/ref>Evergreen Native Plant Database
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Taxonomy

All the United States and some of the Canadian material belongs to ''E.'' ''eamesii'' subsp. ''atropurpureum'' (Fernald & Wiegand) D.Löve, which has been regarded as a separate species by some authorities but not others.USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, Plants profile, ''Empetrum eamesii''
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Distribution and habitat

It is native to eastern Canada and the northeastern US. It has been reported from sand dunes, rocky outcrops, and alpine heath in

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, the

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(

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and St. Pierre & Miquelon.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15376139 eamesii Flora of Eastern Canada Flora of the Northeastern United States Flora of Minnesota Plants described in 1913 Flora without expected TNC conservation status