Arctostaphylos alpina : Black Bearberry

Scientific Name:

Kingdom: Plantae

Division:

• Tracheophyta (vascular)
• Spermatophyta (seed bearing)
Angiospermae (enclosed seed)

Class: Dicoteldonae (two seed-leaves)

Family: Ericaceae (Heath Family)

Genera: Arctostaphylos (Bearberry) (Gik. arcto=bear + staphyle=berry; referring to the fact that bears enjoy these berries)

Species: alpina (Lat. alpes= The Alps)

English Name(s):

Black Bearberry, Alpine Bearberry

First Nation Names:

dzhii ndee' (Gwichya), shin jak (Teetl'it)

Structure:

• Prostrate or trailing often mat-forming shrub.
• Branches erect, short and bark shreddy.

Leaves:

• Simple (not compound or lobed).
• Leaves alternate.
• 1-5 cm long by 0.5-1.7 cm wide.
• Ciliate (margin hairs) on petiole and base of leaf.
• Obovate or ablanceolate in shape and rounded at the tip.
• Persistent (withering but not falling) on the stem for many years.
• Appearing to be in rosettes.
• Margins crenulate (round toothed).

Reproductive Parts:

• Flowers perfect (bisexual) and regular (symetrical).
• Calyx (sepals) 5-parted.
• Flowers in terminal (at the top) racemes or clusters.
• Flowers with united petals and bell-shaped.
• Ovary with 5 locules (chambers).
• Stamens (male parts) 10.
• 2-3 appearing early in spring before the leaves unfold.
• Flowers yellowish-green becoming white.

Seed:

• Fruit is a drupe (berry like).
• Nutlets inside drupe, 2.7-4.6 mm long.
• Black and shiny when ripe otherwise a deep maroon before ripe. 5-10mm in diameter.

Not to Be Confused With:

• Arctostaphylos rubra (Reb Bearberry) is very similar but the drupes (berries) are red, the stems standing slightly higher and withered leaves are not persistent.

Physiology:

Life Cycle:

• Perennial.

Seasonal Cycle:

• Berries ripe around late July.
• Flowers bloom in early spring, before the leaves unfold.
• Leaves turn bright red in autumn and then persist withered on the plant for a number of seasons.

Animal Uses:

Habitat:

• Acid rocky and gravelly situations and in rocky tundra.
• Usually at higher elevations than A.rubra.

Modern:

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Traditional Gwich'in:

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