Crowberry
size:
plant: 15 to 45 centimeters
flowers: 1 to 2 millimeters
color:
male flowers: pink
female flowers: purplish red
blossoms:
April and May
pollination:
insects
reproduction:
seed
life span:
perennial
- Dut: Kraaiheide
- Lat: Empetrum nigrum
- Eng: Crowberry
- Ger: Krähenbeere
- Fren: Camarine noire
- Dan: Revling
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- Crowberries, foto fitis, sytske dijksen
Crowberry
It's not hard to guess where this plant got its name from. Crows, together with curlews, doves, pheasants and gulls, like to eat the berries of this plant. The shiny black berries are edible for people however don't have much flavor. Even grazing animals don't eat crowberry. The plants are either male or female. Once they get berries, it's easy to see which ones are female. However, you can also distinguish the sex if you are fortunate to spot the tiny flowers in early spring. Male plants have pink flowers while female plants have darker purple to red flowers.
- Distribution and habitat
- Crowberry flowers, foto fitis, sytske dijksen
Crowberry grows together with common heather throughout the old dune regions of the northern Dutch dunes. As long as it's not too dry or acidic, it grows on nutrient-poor peat and sandy soils. Crowberry likes sunny to lightly shaded areas that are poor in calcium and nutrients. This species survives longer in sand drifts than common heather.
See also
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