Crowberry

Common Name: Crowberry

Latin Name: Empetrum nigrum

Family: Empetraceae (Crowberry family)

Crowberry, also known as curlew berry or crakeberry, is a dwarf, heather-like evergreen shrub with glossy green leaves with rolled-back edges and inconspicuous pink flowers which develop into edible black fruits.

It grows on peaty and rocky moors, bogs and mountain tops. Crowberry has two subspecies, the most common of which is Empetrum nigrum ssp. nigrum. This is widespread in suitable habitat north west of a line from Devon to north east Yorkshire up to 800m altitude.

In the Yorkshire Dales National Park crowberry has a patchy distribution. It can be abundant on the drier parts of acid peaty moorland where sheep grazing hasn’t been too intensive and it often occurs where glacial drift or peat has built up over the Carboniferous Limestone in the south west of the National Park.