Scientific Name: Vitis idaea

Common Names:
1.   Mountain Cranberry
2.   Cowberry
3.   Partridgeberry
4.   Lingon Berry
5.   Rock Cranberry
6.   Low-Bush Cranberry
7.   Foxberry
8.   Shore Berry
9.   Alpine Berry
10. Moss Berry
11. Dry Ground Berry

Class:  Ericae

Order:  Ericales

Family: Ericaceae

Subfamily: Vaccinoideae

Genus of the Species: Vitits

Identification:

Leaves

• Oval an alternaately arranged
• 0.6-1.5 cm long
• Upper surface shiny and dark green
• Underside dull, pale green with tiny black dots
• Petioles shor, .02 cm long, and coverd with  fine hairs
• Margins entir, revolute, occasionally appear wavy
• Persist up to 3 years

• Twigs greenish-brown to burgundy
• Fine hairs cover new growth

• Four petalled white to pinkish flowers
• Produced singly or in clusters in terminal racemes
• Terminal clusters of bell shaped flowers droop from lower edge of twig
• Fruit is a red berry, 0.6 cm in diameter

• Semi-woody
• Slender and trailing
• Shoots 1-2 mm in diameter

• Tap roots with finely divided rootlets
• Occur at nodes along creeping stems and rhizomes
• Branches rhizomes haave numerous hairlike roots
• Maxium rooting depths 2"-11"
• 80% of total biomass of mature plant is underground

• Low, creeping, evergreen subshrub
• Averages 10-35 cm in height at maturity
• Frequently forms mats

The berries are being increasingly produced by commercial farmers in Sweden.  Products such as sauce, jam, preserves and juice are processed and marketed in Sweden, where the total consumption is estimated at 12 million kg per year.  Other major exporting countries are Finland, and Soviet Union.  It also occurs throughout northern Europe from Scandinavia to northern Italy and the  Caucasus.  The berry is also spread across northern Siberia and Japan, south into northern China and Korea.  It is in wild abundance in Alaska and Canada.
 

Natural History

• This wild shrub grows upright and vigorously,  with a berry which averages 0.5-0.8 g in weight and contains 3-15 seeds  per berry.   The berries ripen in August  and are red, tart, and smaller than cranberries, but with a finer flavor.  One mature plant can producee up to 1 liter under good conditions.  They will produce more fruit in full sun, but the plants will also grow in dappled shade.  However, it grows very slowly and takes 3-4 years to reach full maturity.  In harsh arctic environments, only plants on south facing rock crevices will flower.
• Native Americans and indigenous peoples of Eurasia used the leaves and fruit as food or medicine.  Preparations made from the leaves were used to treat bladder problems, gout, and rheumatism.  Medicinal fruit jellies were used to treat sore throats and colds.  The Slave, Athabaska, Cree, and Inuit peoples ate the fruit fresh and preserved them for winter use.  Berries were often boiled and mixed with oil to facilitate storage for long periods.
• However, human beings are not the only ones to enjoy this delicious fruit, so are mammals!  They are readily eaten by black beear, moose, red-backed vole and snowshoe hare.  Many species feed on fruit left on the ground from the previous year.  The red fox also consumes large amounts of fruit during late fall.  Many other mammals, including the polar bear, eastern chipmunk, and white-footed mouse, also feed on the fruit.  Fruits of many Vacciniums are readily eaten by the red squirrel, gray fox, skunks, and chipmunks.
• Let's not forget about the Birds!  In many areas, berries are an essential food source for birds migrating northward in the spring.  Common raven, ruffed grouse, spruce grouse,  whimbrel, herring gull, Cananda goose, and many songbirds readily consume the fruit.
• This plant grows on shallow, poorly developed mineral soil, as well as on drained peat.  Soil is often low fertility with little calcium, but may be high in decaying organics.   They commonly grow on acidic, sandy loams  or loamy clays.  The pH level ranges from 2.7-8.2, but best growth occurs at  4.0-4.9.  Soils can be derived from a variety of parent materials, including sandstone, gneiss, granite, and glacial outwash sands and gravel.
• Occurs in a variety of communities across a wide climatic range.
• Increases in cover and vigor after a fire are commonly observed.  They generally reestablish a site through sprouting from rhizomes and aerial stems.   Underground regenerative structures geneerally survive light fires and plants often survive even when aerial portions are consumed by fire.  Their survival is related to many factors including soil moisture levels, season of burn, fire severity and intensity, and rhizome depth.
• Plants commonly expand through horizontal rhizomes.  Rhizomes may sprout singly or in groups of 1 or 2 per square meter.  Large, older clones may be separated into numerous daughter clones by disturbances such as frost, fire, or burrowing mammals.  Rhizome depth is inversely related to the thickness of soil organic layers.
• They form a dense, attractive mat, which has beeen planted as an ornamental ground cover.  It was first cultivated in  1789 and has shown promise for use in developing hardy fruit-producing cultivars.  When cultivated they generally respond more favorably to fertilizer and irrigation than do other members of the genus.  However, if too much is added, vegetation  growth may be promoted at the expense of fruit production.
• This plant is susceptible to herbicides such as 2,4-D.  These cause browning of stems and leaves and at high concentrations can kill the plants.  It can also be killed by exposure to cold temperatures in the absence of a protective snow cover.  Unacclimated plants can be killed by temperatures of 28 degrees F or below; acclimated plants can survive temperates as low as 8 degress F.

How to Encounter

• This species of wild shrub can be  found in northern temperate forests, arctic and alpine communities.  At the southern edge of its range, it occurs primarily in bogs, but in the north grows on both wet and dry sites.  Also appears  on high moors, heath barrens, sand dunes, and in peatlands, forest swamps, and bogs.  In mature forests, plants often grow on top of decaying tree stumps.
• Occurs in a diverse array of communities, particularly as understory dominant in Black Spruce(Feathermoss), White Spruce, and Jack Pine communities.  Other common overstory includes tamarack, aspen, and birches.  Can also be found in a variety of dwarf shrub, dwarf birch-willow, and tundra shrub tussock communities.

References:

Fire Effects Information System (FEIS)

Stang, E.J., G.G. Weis, and J. Klueh. 1990. Lingonberry:  Potential New Fruit For The Northern United States. p. 321-323.  In: Jj.  Janick and J.E. Simon (eds.), Advances in new crops. Timber Press, Portland, OR.

http://www.hvf.slu.se/trad/nya/vaccinium.html

wysiwyg://12http://www.geocities.com/RainForest/9458/vaccvit.htm

http://rpsec.usca.sc.edu/RPSEC/Utilities/Pictures/smoky/s109vacc.JPG
 
 

*Major:  Recreation and Leisure Studies, Emphasis:  Recreation Resource Management
*E-mail:  carlaman@arches.uga.edu