Arctous alpina | |
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Arctous alpina var. japonica on Mt. Iide, Fukushima Prefecture, Japan. | |
Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Clade: | Angiosperms |
Clade: | Eudicots |
Clade: | Asterids |
Order: | Ericales |
Family: | Ericaceae |
Genus: | Arctous |
Species: | A. alpina |
Binomial name | |
Arctous alpina | |
Synonyms | |
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Arctous alpina (syn. Arctostaphylos alpina), the alpine bearberry, mountain bearberry or black bearberry, is a dwarf shrub in the heather family Ericaceae. The basionym of this species is Arbutus alpinaL..
Arctous alpina is a procumbent shrub usually less than 6 inches (15 cm) high with a woody stem and straggling branches. The leaves are alternate and wither in the autumn but remain on the plant for another year. The leaves are stalked and are oval with serrated margins and a network of veins. They often turn red to scarlet in autumn. The flowers are in groups of two to five, white or pink and urn-shaped and about 3 to 5 mm (0.12 to 0.20 in) long. They have five sepals, five fused petals with five small projecting lobes, ten stamens and a single carpel. The fruits are spherical, 9 to 12 mm (0.35 to 0.47 in) long, initially green, then red and finally glossy black and succulent when ripe. This plant flowers in June. [2] [3]
Arctous alpina has a circumpolar distribution. It is found at high latitudes, from Scotland east across Scandinavia, Russia, Alaska, Northern Canada and Greenland. Its southern limits in Europe are the Pyrenees and the Alps, in Asia, the Altay Mountains and Mongolia, and in North America, British Columbia in the west, and Maine and New Hampshire in the east. [4] Its natural habitat is moorland, dry forests with birch and pine and hummocks covered in moss at the edges of bogs. [3]
Arctous alpina forms a symbiotic relationship life with fungi which supply it with nutrients such as phosphorus. The berries are appreciated by birds. [3]
Bearberries are three species of dwarf shrubs in the genus Arctostaphylos. Unlike the other species of Arctostaphylos, they are adapted to Arctic and subarctic climates, and have a circumpolar distribution in northern North America, Asia and Europe.
Antennaria alpina is a European and North American species of plant in the family Asteraceae. Antennaria alpina is native to mountainous and subarctic regions of Scandinavia, Greenland, Alaska, and the Canadian Arctic, extending south at high altitudes in mountains in the Rocky Mountains south to Montana and Wyoming.
Prunus virginiana, commonly called bitter-berry, chokecherry, Virginia bird cherry, and western chokecherry, is a species of bird cherry native to North America.
Ilex verticillata, the winterberry, is a species of holly native to eastern North America in the United States and southeast Canada, from Newfoundland west to Ontario and Minnesota, and south to Alabama.
Arctostaphylos uva-ursi is a plant species of the genus Arctostaphylos widely distributed across circumboreal regions of the subarctic Northern Hemisphere. Kinnikinnick is a common name in Canada and the United States. Growing up to 30 centimetres in height, the leaves are evergreen. The flowers are white to pink and the fruit is a red berry.
Cornus sericea, the red osier or red-osier dogwood, is a species of flowering plant in the family Cornaceae, native to much of North America. It has sometimes been considered a synonym of the Asian species Cornus alba. Other names include red brush, red willow, redstem dogwood, redtwig dogwood, red-rood, American dogwood, creek dogwood, and western dogwood.
The Australian flowering shrub Grevillea alpina has several common names, including mountain grevillea, alpine grevillea, and cat's claws. It is not limited to alpine environments, and in fact is less common at high elevation than low. The species is variable in appearance, with five general forms described: small-flowered, Grampians, Northern Victorian, Goldfields, and Southern Hills forms. It is found in dry forests and woodlands across Victoria and into southern New South Wales. Some forms of the plant are low to the ground, and some become a spreading shrub. The flowers come in many colours, from white to green to shades of red and pink, or a pattern of several colours. The curled flowers are 1 to 3 centimetres in length. It is attractive to nectar-feeding insects and birds.
Homogyne alpina, the Alpine coltsfoot or purple colt's-foot, is a rhizomatous herb in the family Asteraceae, which is often used as an ornamental plant. In addition, this plant has purple-red flowers, and it is usually associated with the gall flies Ensina sonchi and Acidia cognata.
Grevillea juniperina, commonly known as juniper- or juniper-leaf grevillea or prickly spider-flower, is a plant of the family Proteaceae native to eastern New South Wales and southeastern Queensland in Australia. Scottish botanist Robert Brown described the species in 1810, and seven subspecies are recognised. One subspecies, G. j. juniperina, is restricted to Western Sydney and environs and is threatened by loss of habitat and housing development.
Lonicera involucrata, the bearberry honeysuckle, bracted honeysuckle, twinberry honeysuckle, Californian Honeysuckle, twin-berry, or black twinberry, is a species of honeysuckle native to northern and western North America.
Arctostaphylos hookeri is a species of manzanita known by the common name Hooker's manzanita.
Arctostaphylos pallida, commonly known as pallid manzanita, Oakland Hills manzanita, and Alameda manzanita, is an upright manzanita shrub from the Ericaceae, or heath family. It is endemic to the eastern San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California.
Arctostaphylos luciana is a species of manzanita known by the common name Santa Lucia manzanita, is endemic to California.
Arctostaphylos obispoensis is a species of manzanita, known by the common names bishop manzanita and serpentine manzanita, endemic to California.
Arctostaphylos pilosula is a species of manzanita, known by the common names La Panza manzanita and Santa Margarita manzanita, that is endemic to California.
Bearberry is three species of shrubs in the genus Arctostaphylos.
Arctostaphylos rubra is a species of flowering plant in the heath family and the genus Arctostaphylos, the manzanitas and bearberries. Common names include red fruit bearberry, alpine bearberry, arctic bearberry, red manzanita, and ravenberry. It is native to Eurasia and northern North America from Alaska through most of Canada to Greenland. There is also one population in the contiguous United States, located in the Absaroka Mountains of Wyoming.
Carex bigelowii is a species of sedge known by the common names Bigelow's sedge, Gwanmo sedge, and stiff sedge. It has an Arctic–alpine distribution in Eurasia and North America, and grows up to 50 centimetres (20 in) tall in a variety of habitats.
Garrya wrightii is a species of flowering plant in the family Garryaceae known by the common names Wright's silktassel, quinine-bush, coffee berry, bearberry, feverbush, and grayleaf dogwood.
Arctous is a genus of flowering plants referred to by the common name "bearberry", a name sometimes shared with certain species of the related genus Arctostaphylos, in particular, A. uva-ursi. Although the two genera are related, certain characters, such as deciduous, marcescent leaves, rugose-reticulate venation, and finely-toothed leaves are more typical of Arctous than Arctostaphylos.