Ask the ChatbotGames & QuizzesHistory & SocietyScience & TechBiographiesAnimals & NatureGeography & TravelArts & CultureProConMoneyVideos
crowberry
Table of Contents
References & Edit History Quick Facts & Related Topics
Images
crowberry
Quizzes
Chef tossing vegetables in a frying pan over a burner (skillet, food).
What’s on the Menu? Vocabulary Quiz
Venus's-flytrap. Venus's-flytrap (Dionaea muscipula) one of the best known of the meat-eating plants. Carnivorous plant, Venus flytrap, Venus fly trap
Plants: From Cute to Carnivorous
Read Next
Plant seedlings emerging from rich fertile soil
Do Plants Feel Pain?
Flower bingo
Britannica’s Flower Bingo
curly kale. Kale or borecole (Brassica oleracea Acephala Group) a loose leafed, edible plant derived from the cabbage. vegetable
Nutritional Powerhouses: 8 Foods That Pack a Nutritional Punch
Anemone coronaria, the poppy anemone, Spanish marigold, or windflower, is a species of flowering plant.
What’s the Difference Between Angiosperms and Gymnosperms?
Hemp (Cannabis sativa).
9 Mind-Altering Plants
Discover
Berlin, 1936 - Jesse Owens of the USA in action in the mens 200m at the Summer Olympic Games. Owens won a total of four gold medals.
Was Jesse Owens Snubbed by Adolf Hitler at the Berlin Olympics?
African Americans demonstrating for voting rights in front of the White House as police and others watch, March 12, 1965. One sign reads, "We demand the right to vote everywhere." Voting Rights Act, civil rights.
Timeline of the American Civil Rights Movement
A Factory Interior, watercolor, pen and gray ink, graphite, and white goache on wove paper by unknown artist, c. 1871-91; in the Yale Center for British Art. Industrial Revolution England
Inventors and Inventions of the Industrial Revolution
pyramid sunset, egypt
What’s Inside the Great Pyramid?
Calendar marking march 15th
22 Questions About Time and Timekeeping Answered
Close-up of crocodile eye; location unknown (rainforest, reptile).
What’s the Difference Between Alligators and Crocodiles?
Charles Darwin, carbon print photograph by Julia Margaret Cameron, 1868.
What Darwin Got Right (and Wrong) About Evolution
crowberry
crowberry Crowberry (Empetrum nigrum).

crowberry

plant genus
External Websites
Also known as: Empetrum
Written and fact-checked by
The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors.
The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Article History

crowberry, (genus Empetrum), genus of three species of low evergreen shrubs of the heath family (Ericaceae). The plants thrive in subarctic, alpine, and boreal regions and produce juicy edible fruits that are somewhat acidic in taste. The fruits are an important food source for numerous species of songbirds and waterfowl as well as bears, voles, and other mammals. They have a long history of use by indigenous peoples as a food and medicine.

Physical description

Crowberries grow about 25 cm (10 inches) tall and are somewhat trailing in habit. The narrow simple leaves are about 1 cm (0.4 inch) long and somewhat succulent. The flowers are very small and purplish pink. The fruits are true berries, about 1 cm long, and range from reddish to purple to black, depending on the species.

Species

Crowberry, or black crowberry (Empetrum nigrum), is native to cool regions of North America, Asia, and Europe and is the most common species of the genus. Purple crowberry, or rockberry (E. eamesii), is found in the northeastern United States and eastern Canada, and red crowberry (E. rubrum) is native to Chile, Argentina, and the Falkland Islands.

Chef tossing vegetables in a frying pan over a burner (skillet, food).
Britannica Quiz
What’s on the Menu? Vocabulary Quiz
The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica This article was most recently revised and updated by Melissa Petruzzello.
Britannica Chatbot logo

Britannica Chatbot

Chatbot answers are created from Britannica articles using AI. This is a beta feature. AI answers may contain errors. Please verify important information using Britannica articles. About Britannica AI.
tundra
Table of Contents
References & Edit History Quick Facts & Related Topics
Images
tundra tundra biome Noatak River permafrost pingo pingo Taymyr Peninsula Gelisol soil profile Cryosol soil profile Arctic tundra
For Students
tundra summary
Quizzes
Chutes d'Ekom - a waterfall on the Nkam river in the rainforest near Melong, in the western highlands of Cameroon in Africa.
Ecosystems
Discover
The Castillo, a Toltec-style pyramid, rises 79 feet (24 meters) above the plaza at Chichen Itza in Yucatan state, Mexico. The pyramid was built after invaders conquered the ancient Maya city in the tenth century.
What’s Inside the Pyramid at Chichén Itzá?
Calendar marking march 15th
22 Questions About Time and Timekeeping Answered
A Factory Interior, watercolor, pen and gray ink, graphite, and white goache on wove paper by unknown artist, c. 1871-91; in the Yale Center for British Art. Industrial Revolution England
Inventors and Inventions of the Industrial Revolution
World Data Locator Map: Australia
Is Australia an Island?
Orange basketball on black background and with low key lighting. Homepage 2010, arts and entertainment, history and society
The 10 Greatest Basketball Players of All Time
African Americans demonstrating for voting rights in front of the White House as police and others watch, March 12, 1965. One sign reads, "We demand the right to vote everywhere." Voting Rights Act, civil rights.
Timeline of the American Civil Rights Movement
The Lost Colony of Roanoke, North Carolina, where 115 people mysteriously disappeared c. 1590. John White discovers the word Croatoan carved onto a tree upon his return to the deserted Roanoke Colony in 1590
The Lost Colony of Roanoke
tundra
tundra Alaskan mountain and tundra vegetation in the fall.

tundra

ecosystem
Written by
Lawrence C. Bliss
Professor, Department of Botany, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington.
Lawrence C. Bliss,
Feng Sheng Hu
Professor of Biology, Department of Plant Biology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois.
Feng Sheng Hu•All
Fact-checked by
The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors.
The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Last Updated: • Article History

tundra, a major zone of treeless level or rolling ground found in cold regions, mostly north of the Arctic Circle (Arctic tundra) or above the timberline on high mountains (alpine tundra). Tundra is known for large stretches of bare ground and rock and for patchy mantles of low vegetation such as mosses, lichens, herbs, and small shrubs. This surface supports a meagre but unique variety of animals. The Finns called their treeless northern reaches the tunturi, but the concept of a vast frozen plain as a special ecological realm called tundra was developed by the Russians.

One constant factor shaping the tundra is alternate freezing and thawing of the ground. Along with the factors mentioned above, this freeze-thaw cycle sets the tundra apart from two ecosystems frequently found adjacent to it—the icy polar barrens on the one hand and the evergreen taiga on the other. Permafrost—perennially frozen ground—is a significant feature of the Arctic tundra; however, it does not typically occur in alpine regions.

Distribution

tundra biome
tundra biomeSouthern limit of Arctic tundra and approximate line of demarcation between Low and High Arctic.

The global extent of the tundra biome is considerable, accounting for roughly 10 percent of Earth’s surface. The southern limit of Arctic tundra follows the northern edge of the coniferous forest belt. In North America this line lies above latitude 60° N, while in Eurasia most of it occurs north of 70° N—except in eastern Siberia, where it extends southward to 60° N in Kamchatka. The northward bulge of forest in Eurasia is a result of the warmer summers that occur over that large contiguous landmass.

Alpine tundra covers approximately 3 percent of Earth’s land surface, and it is mostly found in the Northern Hemisphere. This habitat can be found in mountainous areas worldwide, occurring at high elevations where temperatures are too low and winds are too strong for the growth of trees. The average elevation where alpine tundra occurs is generally higher near the Equator than at the poles.

Because nearly all of Antarctica is covered with ice, it lacks a well-developed tundra, though lichens, mosses, and at least three species of flowering plants occur in more favourable habitats there.

Chutes d'Ekom - a waterfall on the Nkam river in the rainforest near Melong, in the western highlands of Cameroon in Africa.
Britannica Quiz
Ecosystems
Britannica Chatbot logo

Britannica Chatbot

Chatbot answers are created from Britannica articles using AI. This is a beta feature. AI answers may contain errors. Please verify important information using Britannica articles. About Britannica AI.