Genus i. 



CROWBERRY FAMILY. 



479 



I. EMPETRUM [Tourn.] L. Sp. PI. 1022. 1753. 



Depressed or spreading herbaceous shrubs, freely branching, dioecious or monoecious, the 

 branches usually densely leafy, the leaves linear-obloug. Flowers inconspicuous, solitary iu 

 the upper axils. Sepals and petals mostly 3. Staminate flowers with 3 stamens, the anthers 

 introrse. Pistillate flowers with a globose 6-9-celled ovary, and a short thick style with 

 6-9-toothed segments. Drupe black to red, containing 6-9 nutlets. [Greek, on rocks, refer- 

 ring to the growth of these plants in rocky places.] 



Two known species, the following typical one, and C. rubrum of southern South America. 



I. Empetrum nigrum L. Black 



Crowberry. Heathberry. 



Fig. 2773. 



Empetrum nigrum h. Sp. PI. 1022. 1753. 



Glabrous, or the young shoots and 

 leaves pubescent, usually much branch- 

 ed, the branches diffusely spreading, 

 2-10' long. Leaves crowded, dark 

 green, linear-oblong, thick, obtuse, 2"- 

 3i" long, about i"- wide, the strongly 

 revolute margins roughish ; flowers 

 very small, purplish ; stamens exserted; 

 drupe black, purple or red, 2"-s" in 

 diameter. 



In rocky places, Greenland to Alaska, 

 south to the coast of Maine, the higher 

 mountains of New England and northern 

 New York, Michigan and California. Also 

 in Europe and Asia. Crake-berry. Black- 

 berried heath. Wire-ling. Crow-pea. 

 Monox-heather. Heath. Hog-cranberry, 

 Crowberry. Curlew-berry. Grows in dense 

 beds ; the fruit much eaten by arctic birds. 

 Summer. 



2. COREMA Don, Edinb. New Phil Journ. 15: 63. 1826-27. 

 [Oakesia Tuckerm. in Hook. Lond. Journ. Bot. i : 445. 1842.] 



Low, much branched shrubs, with narrowly linear leaves crowded on the branches, and 

 small dioecious or polygamous flowers in terminal heads. Corolla none. Staminate flowers 

 with 3 or sometimes 4 long-exserted stamens, occasionally with a rudimentary or perfect 

 pistil. Pistillate flowers with a 2-5-celled (mostly 3-celled) ovary and a slender 2-5-cleft 

 style, the stigmatic branches very slender, sometimes toothed. Drupe globose, usually with 

 3 nutlets. [Greek, a broom, in allusion to the bushy habit.] 



Two species, the following of the eastern United States, the other, the generic type, of south- 

 western Europe, the Azores and Canaries. 



I. Corema Conradii Torr. Conrad's 

 Broom Crowberry. Fig. 2774. 



Empetrum Conradii Torr. Ann. Lye. N. Y. 4 ; 83. 



1837. 

 C. Conradii Torr. ; Loudon, Encycl. Trees 1092. 1842. 



Much branched, 6-2° high, the young twigs 

 puberulent and densely leafy, the branches mi- 

 nutely scarred by the persistent pulvini. Leaves 

 2"-3'' long, rather less than 1" wide, obtuse, 

 glabrous when mature, bright green; flowers 

 numerous in the terminal sessile heads, the pis- 

 tillate ones almost concealed by the upper leaves, 

 the staminate conspicuous by the exserted purple 

 stamens; drupes nearly dry, less than i" in 

 diameter. 



In rocky or sandy soil, Newfoundland to Massa- 

 chusetts and New Jersey, mostly near the coast ; but 

 occurring in one station on the Shawangunk Moun- 

 tains in Ulster Co., N. Y. Local. Usually growing in 

 large patches. April-May. Brown or Plymouth crow- 

 berry. Poverty-grass. 



