Extinct Alpine Plant Rediscovered on Mt. Mansfield

[Andrew]

This is cool.

https://vtdigger.org/2022/11/16/alp...8-in-vermont-rediscovered-on-mount-mansfield/

The image is very familiar, but the black crowberry is common, and the rare purple is what was found.

 

[TCD]

Glad the alpine plants are making a comeback. We've had good success with this in the ADKs as well.

(Many of the articles about this mix up "extinct" and "extirpated"...)

 

[peakbagger]

I see the red version frequently; I call then mountain cranberries. Vermont has so little above treeline territory and it gets loved to death so it's good the plants are surviving although the long term testing on Camel Hump shows that the treeline is relentless moving upwards crowding out the alpine zone. The same thing is happening all over the Northeast but the Camel Hump study has been going on for decades.

 

[Andrew]

I thought they looked like mt. cranberry when I saw the image, didn't realize they were of another name.

 

[nartreb]

That's a heath, not a cranberry. Same family, different genus, rather different growth habits. (It's a big family that includes Rhododendron and Indian Pipe.)

If you say "mountain cranberry" I'll usually assume you mean Vaccinium vitis-idea, also known as lingonberry or partridgeberry. It's abundant in the alpine zone of New England, and closely related to (same genus as) the jelly next to your turkey.