What is "empetrum"

Empetrum \Empetrum\ prop. n. A genus of heathlike shrubs including the crowberry ( Empetrum nigrum).

Syn: genus Empetrum.

Empetrum, the crowberry, is a small genus of dwarf evergreen shrubs that bear edible fruit. They are commonly found in the northern hemisphere, from temperate to subarctic climates, and also in the Southern Andes of South America and on the South Atlantic islands of South Georgia, the Falklands and Tristan da Cunha. The typical habitat is on moorlands, tundra and muskeg, but also in spruce forests. They are also found abundantly on the dune slacks and sand dunes of the Danish Island of Fanø as well as all over Iceland.

Species of Empetrum include: E. nigrum (crowberry or black crowberry) and its tetraploid subspecies E. nigrum ssp. hermaphroditum, E. eamesii (rockberry or purple crowberry), E. rubrum (red crowberry). All are evergreen mat forming shrubs, with small, light green needle-like leaves 3–10 mm long. The flowers are small and either bisexual or dioecious. The fruit is a fairly dry berry.

The genus and related ones such as Ceratiola and Corema were for most of the 20th century classified in their own family Empetraceae, but molecular data, leaf morphology, and other considerations point to their inclusion in the Ericaceae (specifically, as a tribe within the subfamily Ericoideae). This tribe does share a number of distinctive morphological features, which seem to be associated with wind pollination.