General: Evergreen shrub; stems somewhat decumbent, more or less woolly-hairy, freely branching, 15-30 cm long.
Leaves: Alternate, evergreen, linear to almost needle-like, in whorls of 4, 3-8 mm long, glandular-hairy, margins rolled under, lower surface grooved.
Flowers: Inflorescence of 2-3 inconspicuous flowers in the leaf axils, subtended by 3 scaly bracts smaller than the sepals; petals 0-3, purplish, 3 mm long; sepals 3, brownish.
Wet to moist bogs, meadows, open forests, alpine fellfields and cliffs in the lowland to alpine zones; frequent throughout BC; circumpolar, N to AK, YT and NT, E to NF and S to NY, MN and N CA; Eurasia.
The table below shows the species-specific information calculated from original data (BEC database) provided by the BC Ministry of Forests and Range. (Updated August, 2013)
A shade-intolerant, submontane to alpine, circumpolar, evergreen shrub (transcontinental in North America). Grows on a wide range of sites in tundra, boreal, and cool mesothermal climates. Most often in nitrogen-poor soils in semi-terrestrial communities (peat bogs) where it inhabits topographic prominences. An oxylophytic species characteristic of Mor humus forms.
BC Ministry of Environment:BC Species and Ecosystems Explorer,
the authoritative source for conservation information in British Columbia.
Synonyms and Alternate Names
Empetrum atropurpureum Fernald & Wiegand Empetrum nigrum var. atropurpureum (Fernald & Wiegand) B. Boivin Empetrum nigrum var. purpureum (Raf.) A. DC. Empetrum rubrum var. atropurpureum (Fernald & Wiegand) R. Good
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