Photo: James Ellison — CC BY 2.0 · source
Survives zone 3 through 6
Harvest calendar
Best planted in early spring after your last frost, or in fall before the ground freezes, depending on your climate.
A low, creeping shrub from the Russian Far East and Japan with unusually large, sweet, fragrant fruit for the genus — rare in cultivation, introduced to the West by the plant-hunter Ernest Wilson in 1914.
- Hardiness
- Zone 3–6
- Habit
- Groundcover
- Edible part
- Fruit
- Ripens
- July–Sept
- Mature size
- Creeping deciduous subshrub only 3–10 cm tall, spreading by rhizome
- Light
- Partial shade to full sun — open conifer forest and subalpine scrub
- Soil pH
- 4.0–5.5 — ⚠ STRICTLY ACID-LOVING (calcifuge). Will die on alkaline soil; use ericaceous compost + rainwater
- Environment
- Subarctic
- Native range
- Russian Far East (Kuril Islands, Primorye, Amur, Kamchatka, Sakhalin) and Japan (Hokkaidō and central–northern Honshu); older sources also cite Alaska and the Aleutians, but modern range data omit this — treat the Alaska claim as historical and unconfirmed.
- Status
- Wild
- Years to fruit
- 2–5 yrs
- Growth speed
- Slow — shoots make only 8–15 cm in a season
- Spacing
- 30 cm (12 in) apart — about 11 per m² (10 per 10 sq ft)
- Leaf shape
- Obovate to broadly oval leaves with a slender tapering base, sparsely hairy along the veins beneath; deciduous.
- Root system
- Creeping rhizomes that form a low, spreading mat over time.
- Fruit description
- Glossy, bright red, globose berries 10–12 mm across, sweet and fragrant with a strawberry-like aroma.
- Propagation
- By seed (sow fresh or after about 3 months of cold stratification, in a lime-free mix), softwood or semi-ripe cuttings with a heel (described as slow and difficult), layering (about 18 months), or division of suckers.
- Pollination
- Self-fertile, better with a 2nd cultivar
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.
Growing guide
Growing tips. Unusually low-growing for the genus — a creeping, mat-forming shrub only 10–50 cm tall, but with large leaves and unusually large (12mm) fruit described as sweet and fragrant, "somewhat like a strawberry". Very cold-hardy and needs a genuine cold winter, doing best in northern Britain and struggling in mild southern gardens.
Grow journal
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