Allen Looks to me like the crowberry of my beloved Scottish hills. I see that it gets about a bit and is found in the New World, so may be the same species, Empetrum nigrum. With us it can be abundant on gravelly/peaty acidic soils in exposed positions. Guessing at the follow-up question (you appear to know already that it is not worth eating), I wouldn't have thought that bees were interested. It flowers early, and on male plants dangles its anthers in a most wind-pollinating manner. I do wonder though if the berries have mind-altering properties - what's all this stuff about shifting from the linear-thought paradigm?! Gavin. PS I'm sure that you can Google along with the rest of us, but let me save you the bother ..... One of these links implies that you may need some bear grease to make them palatable, but somehow I don't think that would do it for me either. http://www.grzyby.pl/rosliny/gatunki/Empetrum_nigrum_ssp._hermaphroditum.htm http://plants.usda.gov/cgi_bin/plant_profile.cgi?symbol=EMPET http://caliban.mpiz-koeln.mpg.de/~stueber/thome/band3/tafel_020.html http://botit.botany.wisc.edu/images/401/Magnoliophyta/Magnoliopsida/Dilleniidae/Empetraceae/Empetrum/ http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/environment/eao/culres/ethbot/d-l/Empetrum.htm :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: -- Visit www.honeybeeworld.com/BEE-L for rules, FAQ and other info --- ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
