Empetrum . The crowberry or heath-berry is a small shrub which is native to Europe and is generally confused with other heaths, from which it differs only in its fruit. [1]

There are only two known species of this shrub.

1. Black crowberry: this shrub is spreading rather than upright. It grows several creeping stems from its base with a russet bark. Its leaves closely resemble those of common heath. [2] The flowers, which appear in July and last until the end of August, have nothing to recommend them: they are of a grassy, whitish colour, and grow in dense clusters at the tips of the branches. Their fruit is a round, black berry full of juice, to which heath-cocks are partial, so that wherever crowberries spring up, one may be sure to see these birds. [3] This shrub thrives in soil which is mossy, barren, and damp. It is so hardy that it is commonly found on the highest mountains of Sweden and Linnaeus has observed that scarcely any other plant can grow near the copper mine at Falun due to its sulphurous fumes, which are harmful to plant life. [4] In order to propagate this shrub, one should sow the berries once they have ripened, in the shade and in damp soil. The seedlings will come up only in the spring of the second year but may be transplanted the following autumn.

2. Heath-berry with white fruit, or rockberry: this shrub grows to no more than two feet. It grows several straight, slender stems with a brown bark. [5] Its leaves, which resemble those of other heaths, are arranged in threes along the branches. The flowers, which grow in dense clusters at the tips of the boughs, like those of the crowberry, are no more striking but produce pretty fruit in the form of a transparent, pearled berry with a tart flavour, to which peasants are partial. [6] In Portugal where this shrub is widespread the fruit ripens in autumn. It is propagated in the same way as the black crowberry, except that it needs less shade and damp, and thrives in sandy soil.

Notes

1. ‘Empetrum’ is from the Greek ‘en’ and ‘petros’, meaning upon a rock, and was used by Dioscorides (Huxley et al., 1992, ii.156).

2. The leaves of Empetrum nigrum are linear-oblong (ibid.).

3. Black crowberry is also known as crake berry or curlew berry. Crowberries are used in wildlife conservation plantings (ibid.).

4. Falun is 150 km north west of Uppsala. Linnaeus was commissioned by the Swedish government to assess Sweden’s economic and agricultural potential in the regions. He explored Lapland in 1732, Dalarna in 1734, the Baltic islands Öland and Götland in 1741, West Götland in 1746, and Schonen in 1749, acquiring a comprehensive knowledge of Sweden’s flora (Klingborg, 1988, p. 116).

5. The stems of Empetrum eamesii, or rockberry, are prostrate (Huxley et al., 1992, ii.156).

6. The fruit of the rockberry is rose-red (ibid.).