Crowberry ( Empetrum ): A Chief Arctic Traditional Indigenous Fruit in Need of Economic and Ecological Management

Abstract

The genus Empetrum (Ericaceae) is controversially classified taxonomically. It is conservatively treated as comprising one variable widespread circumboreal/circumarctic species, E. nigrum, usually known as black crowberry (although there are other fruit colors), and a comparatively localized circumantarctic species, E. rubrum, called red crowberry. For millennia in the Northern Hemisphere crowberries have been a valuable source of berries for Indigenous Peoples, and indeed Empetrum is one of the most important berry crops of the Arctic. It has recently begun to be marketed as a commercial processed fruit crop, with increasing evidence of possessing phenolic compounds of high value for nutrition and medicine. Ecologically, Empetrum is a keystone species, sustaining numerous birds and mammals, and dominating many tundra and heathland ecosystems through allelopathic toxins that exclude competitive plants. With climate change expected to greatly alter the northern world in the near future, there is considerable concern about the welfare of Empetrum.