Empetrum

A creeping, matted, perennial evergreen sub-shrub. With its red branches and needle-like leaves, crowberry resembles a miniature fir tree. The inconspicuous flowers appear in late spring or early summer. Plants are self pollinating, with separate male and female flowers on the same plant. The juicy black berries, which are edible but insipid to people are much eaten by arctic birds. Berries remain on the plants all winter. Jam and juice producers use crowberries as a blueberry extending and coloring agent. Will tolerate salt and polluted sites if soil is acidic. Has allelopathic tendencies, which is to say it’s good at keeping out competing plants. Like its relatives in the heath family, crowberry is best grown with an organic mulch, and the plants do not like to be disturbed.