Index / Search / Empetrum nigrum

§1 Plant

Empetrum nigrum L.

vernacular black crowberry — species · Empetraceae


USDA
EMNI
GBIF
8925249
Rank
species
black crowberry (Empetrum nigrum)
Platephotograph · Dmitry KulakovCC BY source · iNaturalist ↗

§2Habit & range

Habit and range

Growth habit
Shrub, Subshrub
Duration
Perennial
Group
Dicot
Family
Empetraceae Hook. & Lindl.
Genus
Empetrum
§2a

Native status, by region

  • AK Alaska Native
  • CAN Canada Native
  • GL Greenland Native
  • L48 Lower 48 States Native
  • SPM St. Pierre & Miquelon Native
§2b

County-level range

· 33 counties across 4 states/territories
Legend Native · 33 Introduced · 0 Both · 0 Hover a county for detail.

§3Cultivation specs · USDA

Recorded by the USDA Plant Materials Program.

§3a

Tolerances

Drought
Medium
Shade
High
Moisture use
Low
Fire
High
Salinity
None
Anaerobic
Low
CaCO₃
Medium
Hedging
None
§3b

Climate & soil

Cold tolerance
-43 °F minimum
Frost-free days
90 min.
Precipitation
16–55 in/yr
pH range
4.3–7.8
Root depth
16 in min.
Fertility need
Medium
Soil texture
medium, fine
§3c

Form & growth

Growth form
Stoloniferous
Growth rate
Slow
Lifespan
Moderate
Mature height
1 ft
Height @ 20 y
1 ft
Foliage texture
Coarse
Foliage colour
Green
Porosity (summer)
Dense
Porosity (winter)
Moderate
Flower colour
Purple
Fruit colour
Black
Fire resistant
No
N fixation
None
Toxicity
None
§3d

Reproduction

Bloom period
Mid Summer
Seed abundance
Medium
Seed begins
Summer
Seed ends
Summer
Spread rate
Slow
Stratify
Yes
Propagation
seed, cuttings, bare root, container, sprigs
§3e

Use & availability

Commercial availability
Routinely Available
Nursery stock
No
Palatable, human
No
Lumber
No
Christmas tree
No

§4Counties, by state

Recorded in 33 counties across 4 states/territories.


§5Sources & provenance

USDA PLANTS

Symbol, taxonomy, distribution, cultivation specs, native status. Public domain.

plants.usda.gov/EMNI ↗

GBIF Backbone

Canonical taxonomic identity, synonym resolution, cross-refs. CC0.

gbif.org/species/8925249 ↗

Record version

Cached and built locally. Source version on this record:

usda-plants-mt-2026-05-26

fetched 2026-05-26T05:06:36Z