black crowberry
Empetrum nigrum · Empetraceae
black crowberry (Empetrum nigrum) is a perennial shrub in the Empetraceae family. It is native to North America. USDA records it as hardy in zone 2 and warmer, down to about -43°F.
At a glance
| Type | shrub USDA |
|---|---|
| Lifecycle | perennial USDA |
| Native status | native USDA |
| Mature height | 1 ft USDA |
| Light | full-sun USDA |
| Water need | low USDA |
| Growth rate | slow USDA |
| Soil pH | 4.3–7.8 USDA |
| Bloom | July USDA |
| Flower color | Purple USDA |
| Hardiness zones | 2 and warmer USDA |
| Guild layer | shrub Derived |
| Nursery availability | Routinely Available USDA |
USDA quoted from the USDA PLANTS database · Derived computed by a fixed rule from those columns. No value on this page is estimated.
Growing conditions
It needs full sun. USDA rates it as having low water needs once established. Its drought tolerance is rated medium. It is recorded on soils from pH 4.3 to 7.8 — a broad range that spans acidic through mildly alkaline ground. Its cold limit is zone 2.
Size and growth
At maturity it reaches about 1 ft, making it a low, mat-forming plant. It grows slowly.
Bloom period
USDA records a bloom period of July. Flowers are purple.
A flowering date, not a pollinator rating.
Foliage, flower and season
Summer foliage is green, coarse in texture. Its flowers are conspicuous. Its fruit or seed heads are conspicuous, extending interest past flowering. Its active growth period is summer and fall. USDA rates its lifespan as moderate.
What the site needs to provide
USDA records it across sites receiving 16 to 55 inches of annual precipitation. It needs at least 90 frost-free days to finish its season. It roots to at least 16 inches. Fertility requirement: medium.
Propagating it
It takes readily from seed, cuttings, bare root, container stock and sprigs. Seed needs cold stratification — a period of moist chilling — before it will germinate, so sow in autumn or chill it artificially before a spring sowing. Its seed spreads at a slow rate. It spreads vegetatively at a slow rate.
Resilience and wildlife
Its fire tolerance is rated high, and it can resprout after damage. Its growth form is recorded as stoloniferous.
Role in a guild
Shrub layer. In a layered planting this is woody mid-level structure between the understory and the ground. The layer is derived by a fixed rule from growth habit and mature height.
Tags
Related plants
Similar role and hardiness
- silver sagebrush Artemisia cana
- big sagebrush Artemisia tridentata
- mountain big sagebrush Artemisia tridentata
- alderleaf mountain mahogany Cercocarpus montanus
- weeping forsythia Forsythia suspensa
Where this data comes from
Every value on this page comes from the USDA PLANTS database record for symbol EMNI, or is computed from those values by a fixed rule. Nothing here is estimated or model-generated. Where USDA publishes no value, this page omits the claim rather than filling the gap.
- Quoted from USDA PLANTS: active growth period, Bloom, Bloom end, cold stratification, Drought tolerance, fall conspicuous, fertility requirement, fire tolerance, Flower color, flower conspicuous, foliage color, foliage porosity winter, foliage texture, frost free days min, fruit conspicuous, growth form, Growth rate, Hardiness zones, Lifecycle, lifespan, Light, Mature height, Minimum temperature, Native status, Nitrogen fixation, Nursery availability, precipitation max in, precipitation min in, propagation, resprout ability, root depth in, seed spread rate, Soil pH, Soil pH (upper), Tolerance of wet soil, Toxicity, Type, vegetative spread rate, Water need.
- Derived by a fixed rule from those columns: Guild layer.
Read our full data sources and methodology.
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