Summary ²

Empetrum rubrum, known as red crowberry or diddle-dee (Chilean Spanish: Murtilla de Magallanes), is a species of plant in the Ericaceae family with a distributional range in Chile from Talca (35°S) to Cape Horn (55°S); in areas of adjacent Argentina; in the Falkland Islands; and in Tristan da Cunha. One of its northernmost natural growing places is Laguna del Maule.

Diddle-dee is an evergreen dwarf shrub; stems 10-50 cm, procumbent to ascending, much branched; old stems are woody; separate male and female plants. Overlapping leaves arranged alternately along stem; leaf blade 2-5x1.2-2 mm, leathery, margins entire, oblong, stalkless. Flowers arising singly from leaf axils, stalkless; 3 petal-like sepals 1.5x1.5 mm, yellow to orange; 3 petals 2x1 mm in female flowers, brownish/ red; petals 3.5x1 mm in male flowers, crimson. Fruit is a fleshy edible drupe 4-6 mm in diameter, globose, red; dispersed by animals.

Distribution ³

Only known from single site near Grytviken.

Comments ⁴

Diddle-dee could be mistaken for cowberry, however the latter does not have separate male and female plants, its leaf margins have regular rounded teeth and its flowers are pinkish white 4-5-lobed tubes. Native in the Falkland Islands.

Sources and Credits

1. (c) J. Burke Korol, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by J. Burke Korol
2. Adapted by stuwhiterod from a work by (c) Wikipedia, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empetrum_rubrum
3. (c) Kelvin Floyd, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA)
4. Adapted by stuwhiterod from a work by (c) Kelvin Floyd, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA)

More Info

• iNat taxon page
• Biodiversity Heritage Library
• BOLD Systems BIN search
• eFloras.org
• Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF)
• HOSTS - a Database of the World's Lepidopteran Hostplants
• IPNI (with links to POWO, WFO, and BHL)
• NatureServe Explorer 2.0
• SEINet Symbiota portals
• Tropicos
• World Flora Online

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