PlantWatch

Cloudberry (Rubus chamaemorus L.)

Photo by Brad Heath

Also known as: bake-apple, salmonberry
French name: chicouté
Bloom time: June to July
Report for: YK, NT, NU, MB

General: This low, creeping perennial dies back each winter.

Leaves & Twigs: Cloudberry stalks vary in height from 5–25 cm; and the erect, simple stems are hairless and do not branch. The broad, somewhat leathery leaves are long-stalked, round to kidney-shaped and indented (forming three-to-five shallow lobes).

Flowers & Fruit: Solitary flowers (1–3 cm across) have five white petals at the tip of the stem. Cloudberry plants are male or female, but only the female plant bears fruit — hard red berries that turn yellowish or amber-coloured when ripe in late July.

Habitat: This plant prefers moist tundra, bog habitats and heaths. Usually found with sphagnum mosses or lichens, it is widespread across the low arctic and boreal forest regions.

Sampling: Select a typical patch of plants, if the plants are very abundant, mark off a 1-metre-square section to observe.

To Observe:

• First bloom: when the first flowers are open in the observed plants (three places).
• Mid bloom when 50% of the flowers are open in the observed plants.