Flora of North America species comparison

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Empetrum atropurpureum

purple crowberry
Branches

green, brown, or reddish, distally white-tomentose, eglandular.
Leaves

ascending, becoming divergent;

blade 4–7 mm.
Flowers

usually bisexual (plants synoecious), sometimes unisexual (plants polygamous);

sepals greenish pink, becoming reddish purple.
Drupes

reddish purple or purple, opaque, 5–9 mm diam.
Seeds

light brown, 2–2.5 mm.
2n

= 52.

Empetrum atropurpureum
Phenology Flowering spring.
Habitat Sand dunes, sandy terraces, exposed mountain slopes near treeline
Elevation 0-1500 m (0-4900 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
ME; NH; NY; VT; NL; NS; PE; QC
Discussion

Empetrum atropurpureum has been found with E. nigrum, which tends to replace E. atropurpureum at higher elevations (P. Zika, pers. comm.). Following J. H. Soper and E. G. Voss (1964), we do not extend the range of E. atropurpureum into the Great Lakes region as done by D. Löve (1960).

Notwithstanding the conclusions of D. Löve (1960), the name Empetrum purpureum Rafinesque has not been formally rejected; perhaps it should be. It has not been used by authors in almost 75 years, most likely because the name E. purpureum cannot be directly typified by a specimen, presumably from Labrador, connected to Rafinesque, thus we are not certain to which plants the name should apply. Interestingly, M. L. Fernald and K. M. Wiegand (1913) reasoned that the purple-fruited plant from Labrador did not belong with E. atropurpureum but with E. nigrum.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 8, p. 488.
Parent taxa Ericaceae > subfam. Ericoideae > Empetrum
Sibling taxa
E. eamesii, E. nigrum
Synonyms E. eamesii subsp. atropurpureum, E. nigrum var. atropurpureum, E. rubrum var. atropurpureum
Name authority Fernald & Wiegand: Rhodora 15: 214. (1913)
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



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