Arctous alpina

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Arctous alpina
Arctous alpina var. japonica 1.JPG
Arctous alpina var. japonica on Mt. Iide, Fukushima Prefecture, Japan.
Status TNC G5.svg
Secure  (NatureServe) [1]
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Ericales
Family: Ericaceae
Genus: Arctous
Species:
A. alpina
Binomial name
Arctous alpina
Synonyms
  • Comarostaphylis polifolia
  • Arctostaphylos alpina

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..

Contents

Description

Flowers Arctostaphylos alpinus (Alpen-Barentraube) IMG 6690.JPG
Flowers

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]

Distribution and habitat

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]

Ecology

Arctous alpina forms a symbiotic relationship life with fungi which supply it with nutrients such as phosphorus. The berries are appreciated by birds. [3]

Related Research Articles

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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.

<i>Arctostaphylos</i> Genus of flowering plants in the heath family Ericaceae

Arctostaphylos is a genus of plants comprising the manzanitas and bearberries. They are shrubs or small trees.

<i>Antennaria alpina</i> Species of flowering plant

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.

<i>Prunus virginiana</i> Species of plant

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<i>Ilex verticillata</i> Species of holly

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.

<i>Arctostaphylos uva-ursi</i> Species of fruit and plant

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.

<i>Cornus sericea</i> Species of flowering plant

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.

<i>Lonicera involucrata</i> Species of honeysuckle

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.

<i>Hamamelis vernalis</i> Species of tree

Hamamelis vernalis, the Ozark witchhazel is a species of flowering plant in the witch-hazel family Hamamelidaceae, native to the Ozark Plateau in central North America, in Missouri, Oklahoma, and Arkansas. It is a large deciduous shrub growing to 4 m (13 ft) tall.

<i>Arctostaphylos hookeri</i> Species of plant

Arctostaphylos hookeri is a species of manzanita known by the common name Hooker's manzanita.

<i>Arctostaphylos pallida</i> Species of flowering plant

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.

<i>Ribes aureum</i> Species of plant

Ribes aureum, known by the common names golden currant, clove currant, pruterberry and buffalo currant, is a species of flowering plant in the genus Ribes native to North America.

<i>Arctostaphylos luciana</i> Species of tree

Arctostaphylos luciana is a species of manzanita known by the common name Santa Lucia manzanita, is endemic to California.

<i>Arctostaphylos obispoensis</i> Species of tree

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.

<i>Arctostaphylos rubra</i> Species of flowering plant

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.

<i>Carex bigelowii</i> Species of grass-like flowering plant

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.

<i>Garrya wrightii</i> Species of flowering plant

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.

<i>Berberis haematocarpa</i> Species of shrub

Berberis haematocarpa, Woot. with the common names red barberry, red Mexican barbery, Colorado barberry and Mexican barberry, is a species in the Barberry family in southwestern North America. It is also sometimes called algerita, but that name is more often applied to its relative, Mahonia trifoliolata.

<i>Arctous</i> Genus of flowering plants

Arctous is a genus of 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.

References

  1. "NatureServe Explorer 2.0". explorer.natureserve.org. Retrieved 21 April 2022.
  2. Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, Native Plant Information Network—NPIN: Arctostaphylos alpina (Alpine bearberry). Accessed 2013-02-02
  3. 1 2 3 "Alpine Bearberry". NatureGate. Retrieved 2013-12-24.
  4. "Arctous alpina". Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN). Agricultural Research Service (ARS), United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).