Empetrum eamesii

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

Red crowberry
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Eudicots
Clade:	Asterids
Order:	Ericales
Family:	Ericaceae
Genus:	Empetrum
Species:	E. eamesii
Binomial name
Empetrum eamesii Fernald & Wiegand[1]
Synonyms[2][3]
Empetrum nigrum var. eamesii (Fernald & Wiegand) B. Boivin Empetrum rubrum subsp. eamesii (Fernald & Wiegand) R.D. Good Empetrum rubrum var. eamesii (Fernald & Wiegand) Cronquist

Description

The species forms a low-lying shrub with prostrate stems, forming a mat on the ground. Leaves are alternate or in whorls. 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.^{[4][5][6][7][8][9][10]}

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^[4] but not others.^[3][11]

Distribution and habitat

It is native to eastern Canada and the northeastern US.^[11] It has been reported from sand dunes, rocky outcrops, and alpine heath in Québec, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, New York State, the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, Minnesota (Cook County), Newfoundland & Labrador and St. Pierre & Miquelon.^[4][11]