Arctous alpinus (L.) Niedenzu

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Credits

Article from Bean's Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles

Recommended citation
'Arctous alpinus' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/arctous/arctous-alpinus/). Accessed 2024-09-15.

Genus

Arctous

Synonyms

Arbutus alpina L.
Arctostaphylos alpina (L.) Spreng.

Infraspecifics

var. ruber

Other taxa in genus

Glossary

berry: Fleshy indehiscent fruit with seed(s) immersed in pulp.
ciliate: Fringed with long hairs.
corolla: The inner whorl of the perianth. Composed of free or united petals often showy.
drupe: A fleshy dehiscent or indehiscent fruit with one to several seeds each enclosed in a hard endocarp (the stone).
glabrous: Lacking hairs smooth. glabrescent Becoming hairless.
oblanceolate: Inversely lanceolate; broadest towards apex.

References

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Credits

Article from Bean's Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles

Recommended citation
'Arctous alpinus' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/arctous/arctous-alpinus/). Accessed 2024-09-15.

A low, procumbent, deciduous shrub a few inches high, shoots glabrous, reddish. Leaves obovate to oblanceolate, narrowed at the base to a slightly flattened stalk, often ciliate, 1⁄2 to 11⁄4 in. long, bright green, shallowly toothed. Flowers in terminal clusters of two to four; corolla urn-shaped, 1⁄5 in. long, with four or five small ciliate teeth; white tinged with pink; anthers chocolate-brown. Fruit a berry-like black-purple drupe about the size of a black currant.

Native of the northern latitudes of Europe, Asia, and N. America. It occurs in a good many mountainous places of Scotland, including Ben Nevis and Ben Wyvis, Skye, Orkney, and Shetland. Its leaves often turn bright red in autumn. The best place for it is a cool damp spot in the rock garden.

var. ruber Rehd. & Wils

Fruits bright red. This variety is based on a plant found by Wilson in W. Szechwan, China, but similar forms have been reported from the mountains of western N. America.