Arctous (A.Gray) Nied.
Bear berry.
Ericaceae, bilberry family.
Bot. Jahrb. Syst. 11: 80.1889.
Vegetative morphology. Plants herbs; not vegetatively proliferating by bulbils or fragmentation. Taproot absent. Aerial stems not conspicuously jointed. Leaves simple. Petioles present. Blades herbaceous; straight.
Reproductive morphology. Flowering stems without leaves in the upper half; hairy. Flowers in inflorescences. Perianth present. Calyx present. Petals present. Fruit without calyx persisting. Fruit glabrous. Styles may persist until dehiscence but are not modified.
Notes. The genus Arctous contrasts with Arctostaphylos in having leaves with winged petioles and crenate margins; no awns or horns, merely stubs on the anthers (horns or awns are present on the anthers of members of Arctostaphylos). Arctous has normal flowering buds that develop in the spring (as opposed to Arctostaphylos in which nascent buds being forming in the summer and fall and lie dormant during the winter); fruit that are bright red or black and juicy (in Arctostaphylos the fruit is mealy or granular); and only 5 nutlets with a hard smooth endocarp (in contrast to Arctostaphylos where the fruit have 10 sculptured nutlets).
Cite this publication as: ‘S.G. Aiken, M.J. Dallwitz, L.L. Consaul, C.L. McJannet, L.J. Gillespie, R.L. Boles, G.W. Argus, J.M. Gillett, P.J. Scott, R. Elven, M.C. LeBlanc, A.K. Brysting and H. Solstad. 1999 onwards. Flora of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago: Descriptions, Illustrations, Identification, and Information Retrieval. Version: 29th April 2003. http://www.mun.ca/biology/delta/arcticf/’. Dallwitz (1980) and Dallwitz, Paine and Zurcher (1993, 1995, 2000) should also be cited (see References).