Vaccinium vitis-idaea L. subsp. minus (Lodd.) Hultén
Mountain cranberry (Lingon or Cowberry, Porsild 1950).
Ericaceae, bilberry family.
Fl. Aleut. Isl. 268. 1937.
V. vitis-idaea L. var. minus Lodd., Bot. Cab. 11: 1023. 1815.
Rhodococcum minus (Lodd.) Avrorin, Bot. Zhurn. 43: 1722. 1958.
Vaccinium vitis-idaea L. var. punctatum Moench
Vegetative morphology. Plants shrubs; dwarf shrubs; 2–10(–15) cm high; low, creeping, with lustrous leathery leaves. Fibrous roots along the stems. Aerial stems erect and prostrate; glabrous (old stems), or sparsely hairy (new stems); stem hairs appressed, or spreading. Leaves distributed along the stems; alternate; evergreen. Stipules absent. Petioles present; 1–1.5 mm long; hairy. Petioles hairs reflexed; curved. Leaf blade bases acute. Blades (2.5–)4–12 mm long; (1.5–)3–8 mm wide. Blades length-width ratio 3. Blades leathery; oblong, or elliptic; flat (margins slightly rolled under); appearing single-veined. Blades adaxial surface shiny (lustrous when fresh); without sessile glands; glabrous (conspicuously wrinkled at 10 X). Blades abaxial surface with sessile glands (that appear as sparse, small brown dots); glabrous (ligther in colour than adaxial surface). Blade margins entire; glabrous. Leaf apices obtuse, or rounded.
Reproductive morphology. Flowering stems absent. Flowers solitary, or in inflorescences (of 2–4 nodding flowers). Inflorescence fasciculate (with a few flowers, if applicable). Pedicels present (but only 1–2 mm long). Pedicels bract leaves 2–5 mm long. Flowers per inflorescence 1–4; small, less than 5 mm in diameter or length. Floral bracts light rose; obovate; 0.5–1.5 mm long; 0.5–1 mm wide; glabrous; apex entire and obtuse. Calyx sepals 5; fused (at the base); 0.8–1 mm long. Calyx red (wine colored); funnel-form; 5-lobed; without sessile glands; glabrous. Petals fused; 5; white; 5–6 mm long. Corolla campanulate; 5-lobed. Stamens 8. Anthers reddish, becoming yellow; 1.8–2.2 mm long (with two long, straight, tubes each one with a pore opening, the pollen containing portion approximately 1 mm long; the tubes of similar length). Nectaries present. Gynoecia inferior. Carpels syncarpous; 4. Ovaries subglobose; glabrous. Styles 1. Placentation axile. Ovules numerous. Fruit sessile. Fruit with calyx persisting; fleshy; a berry; spherical; not distinctly flattened; indehiscent. Fruit 6–9 mm long; 6–9 mm wide; red (drying black); glabrous; surface appearing veinless. Seeds numerous; 1–1.2 mm long; yellowish; with surfaces ridged (at 40 X).
Chromosome information. 2n = 24 and 48. 24 (4x).
- Löve (1954b); Löve and Löve (1966b north eastern USA, 1982a
central Canada); Sokolovskaya (1968 north eastern Asia Koryak); Taylor and
Mulligan (1968 western Canada); Zhukova and Petrovsky (1971 Wrangel Island);
Pojar (1973 western Canada); Packer and McPherson (1974 northern Alaska);
Zhukova et al. (1977a north eastern Asia); Dalgaard (1989 western Greenland).
48 (8x). - Johnson and Packer (1968 north eastern Alaska, given as
n = 24). Ploidy levels recorded 4x&8x.
Distribution. Northern hemisphere distribution: circumpolar; Greenland, St. Pierre and Miquelon, Canada, United States, Eurasia. Yukon, Northwest Territories Islands, Continental Northwest Territories, Nunavut Islands, Continental Nunavut, Northern Québec. Low arctic. Range in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago limited. Uncommon. Arctic Islands: Baffin, Victoria, Southampton.
Ecology and habitat. Substrates: hummocks, tundra, slopes, ridges; imperfectly drained moist areas, or dry, or moderately well drained areas; acidic; rocks, sand; with high organic content, or peat.
Taxon as an environmental indicator. Fruits ripen only in exceptionally warm summers in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. On Continental North America this species is often dominant in open, acidic, turfy and boggy places, (Porsild and Cody, 1980).
Indigenous knowledge. Inuit name: kimminnait. The ripe red
berries are slightly acidic but tasty. They are very healthy and the leaves can
be used to make tea. Today kimminait are used to make jam (Ootoova et al.
2001).
Cranberries have long been in demand as a food plant. The fruit was
prized by Native Americans who used it in many ways, including in pemmican, a
dried mixture of animal fat and fruit, which was the precursor of the dehydrated
foods used today. Benzoic acid in the berries likely aided in preservation. The
Pilgrims on arriving in the New World observed cranberries growing profusely in
the area about Cape cod, and noted that the Indians used the fruit as a source
of a brilliant red dye for their clothes (Small and Catling 1999). To ease a
sore throat, onorth eastern Canada eat cranberries, raw or boiled (Anon 1984).
Cranberries are often used on small children who have mouth infections. The
berry is squeeze inside the mouth and hurts a bit, but is effective. Cranberries
are also eaten (sometimes boiled) for sore throat and coughing or by sick people
who have lost their appetite; ‘it helps you get ready to eat meat
again’(Anon 1984).
Andre and Fehr (2000) reported that Gwich'in people
enjoy eating the berries raw of with sugar or added to breads, james, pies,
muffins and it'suh (a desert made from pounded dry fish - for recipe see
Empetrum). TA pudding sauceastern Canada be made by adding a past made of
flour or custard powder to the boiled berries.
Andre and Fehr (2000)
reported that Gwich'in people used the juice for treating kidney problems. Colds
were treated by taking 2–3 cups of cranberry juice made by simmering
berries for up to 30 minutes. Such juice also improved digestion and appetite.
Cranberry juice is good for dyeing porcupine quills (Andre and Fehr 2000).
Porsild (1950) noted that a very refreshing beverage is made from teh
diluted, sweetended juice.
Notes. Subsp. vitis-idaea is present and common in mainland
Europe (Elven) where it is variously known as the lingonberry (lingenerry),
partridgeberry, foxberry, mountina cranberry, and rock cranberry. It grows well
in very cold climates. It is a minor wild-collected crop of Newfoundland (over
100 000 kg/year) and Nova Scotia (about 5000 kg/year). Inorthern Europe,
lingonberry sauce is often labeled for export as cranberry. The lingonberry has
been occasionally used medicinally as a urinary antiseptic. (Fleet 1994).
Cranberries are extremely high in vitamin C, moderately high in vitamin A, and
quite high in fiber and anthocyanins, all components that have health-giving
qualities. Hippuric acid is an important medicinal constituent of the fruit, as
the as the metabolism of this compound produced low pH urine, unlike most other
fruits. Evidence was presented to show that lingonberry exhibits potential
anticarcinogenic activity as evaluated by in vitro screening tests (Bomser et
al. 1996).
Growth responses of Empetrum nigrum and Vaccinium
vitis-idaea to environmental manipulation in the Finish sub-Arctic were
investigated by Shevtsova et al. (1997). The responses of these species to
experimental manipulations were highly complex, due to species-specific patterns
of growth, great inter-annual variation, and a high number of interactions
between temperature, water, and community composition. The three years of
experimental perturbations modified the shoot architecture markedly due to the
effect of treatments on vegetative production per current shoot and the rate of
lateral meristems activation. Changes in shoot architecture and phenology may be
caused even by a short-term modification of climate and community composition
and may govern the success of these dwarf shrubs in a changing climate.
Illustrations. • Plants in habitat. Flowering plants growing in the shelter of a rock. Nunavut, Southern Baffin Island. Aiken and Mallory, 2002. No voucher. • Plant habitat. Flowers in clusters of 2–4, with a wine red sepals and white or pink tinge petals. Nunavut, Baffin Island, Iqaluit. 21 July 1982. J.M. Gillett. • Close-up of plant. Plants in flower. Note small deep red free sepals and fused pale-pink bell-shaped corollas. Nunavut, Baffin Island Iqaluit. No voucher. • Inflorescence in bud. Right, note red bract leaves that once subtended a flower. Centre of inflorescence a bud with bract leaves, one sepal showing and red petals. Aiken and Mallory, 2002. No voucher. • Close-up of flowers. Flowers with fused wine red sepals, fused white petals in a tubulate corolla, and protruding white stigmas with scarcely modified stigma. Young leaves are reddish. Older leaves have turned green. Nunavut, Baffin Island, Iqaluit. 21 July 1982. J.M. Gillett. • Cranberry and crowberry - in fruit. Cranberry and bilberry growing together. N.W.T. Tuktoyaytuk. 2001. No Voucher. • Habitat - plants in fruit. Low, prostrate shrubs with shiny leathery leaves. and red berries. Nunavut, on Baffin Island, in Iqaluit. Aiken 97–046. CAN. Scale bar in cm. • Plants in fruit. Plants with small clusters of shiny red fruit 6–9 mm in diameter. Nunavut, Baffin Island, at Iqaluit. Aiken 97–046. CAN. • Close-up of fruit. Shiny red fruits 6–9 mm in diameter. At the apex of the fruit the position of the five carpels of the inferior ovary is outlined. Nunavut, Baffin Island, at Iqaluit. Aiken 1999. No voucher. • Arctic Island Distribution.
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).
