What does crowberry mean?
The crowberry is the small, jet-black fruit of low-growing evergreen shrubs in the genus Empetrum, most commonly Empetrum nigrum, which carpets moorland, heath, and tundra across the northern hemisphere. Each berry is about the size of a pea, with a mild, watery flavour that is generally considered bland when eaten raw but improves considerably when cooked into jams, juices, syrups, or preserves — a practice long established in Iceland, Scandinavia, and among Indigenous communities of Alaska and northern Canada. The plant itself bears narrow, needle-like evergreen leaves and spreads by trailing stems, forming dense mats well adapted to cold, exposed, nutrient-poor ground. In everyday usage 'crowberry' refers both to the fruit and to the shrub that produces it. Although unfamiliar to most people outside high-latitude regions, it is an ecologically important plant and a valued wild food wherever it grows.
nounA crowberry is a small, black, berry-like fruit borne by low-growing evergreen shrubs of the genus Empetrum, found on moors, tundra, and rocky ground in northern and subarctic regions. It also refers to the shrub itself.
- The small, edible, black berry of any low-growing evergreen shrub of the genus Empetrum (family Ericaceae).
- Any such shrub itself, typically Empetrum nigrum, with needle-like leaves and trailing stems, native to northern latitudes and alpine regions.
"The tundra was carpeted with crowberries ripening in the late summer sun."
"She gathered a basketful of crowberries from the windswept heath above the fjord."
"Empetrum nigrum, the common crowberry, forms dense mats across the Arctic tundra."
Standard plural formation; used both when referring to multiple fruits and to multiple plants.
"Crowberries ripen slowly through the short Arctic summer."
Crowberries survive where almost nothing else will — they thrive on Arctic tundra so harsh that Indigenous peoples of the far north have relied on them as one of the very few wild fruits available.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of crowberry
The name 'crowberry' is English in origin and dates back to at least the early seventeenth century. It derives simply from 'crow' + 'berry', though the reason for the bird association is uncertain: suggestions include that crows were thought to eat the fruit, or that the dark colour recalled the bird's plumage. The scientific genus name Empetrum comes from Greek 'en' ('on') and 'petros' ('rock'), referring to the plant's habit of growing on stony ground.
Related word forms
How crowberry is actually used
Crowberry is used chiefly in botanical, foraging, and northern-regional contexts. The fruit is edible but insipid when eaten raw; it is more often made into jams, juices, or preserves in Scandinavia, Iceland, and parts of Canada and Alaska. The plural is usually 'crowberries'.
Easily confused with crowberry
Blackcurrants are larger, glossy, and strongly flavoured berries of the genus Ribes, whereas crowberries are smaller, duller, milder berries of the genus Empetrum.
Bilberries are blue-purple berries of the genus Vaccinium with sweet flesh, while crowberries are jet-black, watery, and comparatively bland.