Red crowberry

Photo: Lomvi2 — CC BY-SA 3.0 · source

Survives zone 4 through 8

Harvest calendar

Best planted in early spring after your last frost, or in fall before the ground freezes, depending on your climate.

Also called diddle-dee in the Falkland Islands, where it's the dominant species across large areas of dwarf shrub heath. A Southern Hemisphere counterpart to black crowberry, from Chile's alpine tree line to Cape Horn. DIOECIOUS — needs a male and female plant to fruit.

Hardiness

Zone 4–8

Habit

Groundcover

Edible part

Fruit

Ripens

Late summer–autumn

Mature size

Dwarf mat-forming evergreen shrub 10–30 cm tall, spreading 40–80 cm

Light

Full sun to part shade

Soil pH

4.5–6.0 (strongly to mildly acid) — a lime-free heath plant like its northern relative

Environment

Alpine to subantarctic

Native range

Chile (Talca to Cape Horn) and adjacent Argentina, the Falkland Islands, and Tristan da Cunha.

Status

Wild

Years to fruit

3–5 yrs

Growth speed

3–8 cm/year — very slow, spreading outward as a creeping mat rather than upward.

Spacing

60 cm (24 in) apart — about 2.8 per m² (2.6 per 10 sq ft)

Leaf shape

Tiny needle-like evergreen leaves 3–6 mm long, arranged closely along wiry prostrate stems with their margins rolled right under — heather-like, and an adaptation to wind and cold rather than drought.

Root system

Shallow, fine and wide-creeping, with the prostrate stems rooting as they run to build a dense evergreen mat; heavily dependent on mycorrhizal partners in the peaty acid ground it grows on.

Fruit description

Round berries 5–8 mm across ripening pink to deep red rather than black — the difference the name records — juicy and mildly acid, and gathered locally in Patagonia for jam and drinks.

Propagation

Layering occurs naturally where the prostrate stems touch ground, so rooted pieces can simply be lifted and separated. Semi-ripe cuttings root under mist; seed is slow and needs cold stratification.

Pollination

DIOECIOUS — needs male and female plants

The edible parts listed above are a starting point, not a field guide. Identify a plant with certainty — ideally against a local authority — before eating any part of it, and read the full disclaimer. Spotted something wrong? Report it.