Nature’s Garden – No Sowing Required
As the long summer days begin to shorten, the jewels of the tundra appear – flowers morph into fruits, and berries weight the branches.
Fruits are clever adaptations of plants to ensure their genetic material gets passed on; they bear the seeds in which the future of the plant is contained. But in berries the seeds are cloaked in tasty material that entices animals to assist in their dispersal.
Most berry-producing plants have seeds that are protected in coatings that can resist the digestive fluids of birds and mammals, long enough for the seed to pass through the digestive tract and end up deposited away from the parent plant.
The “crop” of berries in an area varies dependent on the weather in that particular summer. For example, in the summer of 2024, there were few berries due to unusually dry weather in June and July. There were many blueberries and bog cranberries, but low numbers of crowberries, cloudberries, bearberries and lingonberries. Still, there are always enough for a taste!
Types of Wild Tundra Berries
Blueberries (Heath family, Vaccinium uliginosum)
Blue berries, with a misty “bloom” on the berry. Low shrubs, oval leaves. Reddish-whitish urn-shaped flowers, insect-pollinated. The urns face down until pollinated and the seeds are forming, then rotate upward so the berries are more visible and accessible. The foliage turns to greenish maroon in fall. Blueberries are eaten by just about everything, small birds right up to geese and sandhill cranes, mammals from mice to bears…and people, of course. Many are staple foods of Indigenous peoples of the boreal forest and tundra. These berries are some much smaller than the commercially produced berries and are bursting with flavour – gather enough and Tanya the lodge cook will be pleased to make a wild blueberry pie!
Lingonberries (Heath, Vaccinium vitis-idaea)
Bright red berries, changing to maroon during winter. Prostrate to low shrubs, waxy oval leaves. Urn-shaped flowers in groups at ends of branches, pinkish white, insect-pollinated. Berries ripen toward the end of summer. Consumed by many birds and mammals. Lingonberries are a type of cranberry, but a species that grows on dry land instead of in bogs. Under the right conditions, these berries will carpet the tundra. They are a local lodge favourite to use in Bannock or make into sauce to go with turkey supper.
Bog cranberry (Heath, Oxycoccus microcarpus)
Smaller than lingonberries, these grow in boggy areas, mostly in sphagnum moss. Flowers with curved narrow petals, pinkish red, small. Tasty, juicy berries are orangish red, on thin, threadlike branches, and the narrowly ovate leaves with rolled edges are widely separated on the branches. Not nearly as common as lingonberries, but are found frequently at Point Lake.
Bearberries (Heath, Arctous sp.)
There are two species of bearberry at Point Lake. Prostrate shrubs, all with urn-shaped white to pinkish flowers. The flowers have an unusual adaptation – clear “lenses” in the base of the petals focus the rays of the sun on the developing ovaries. These lenses don’t last long, and appear when the plant first starts blooming.
- Black bearberry (Arctous alpina) grows in dry places, often on ridges or eskers, in sandy soil. The leaves of this plant turn bright red in fall, painting the fall tundra with brilliant scarlet. Berries are black, mealy, not particularly tasty, but were a staple food of Indigenous people.
- Red bearberry (Arctous rubra) occurs in wetter spots, bases of eskers, pond shores, under low birches or willows. Foliage is light green in spring, and less likely to turn scarlet in fall. Berries are translucent red, juicy. Not as common as black bearberry in the Point Lake area.
Cloudberries (Rose family, Rubus chamaemorus)
One of the highly preferred berries, fairly common at Point Lake – cloudberry grows in wet areas, usually in seeps on the sides of eskers, often in sphagnum moss. Wrinkled “maple leaf shaped” leaves and a single large white flower that only lasts about a day. Local people look for the flowers so they will know where to look for berries later. Berries similar to raspberries; reddish, turning to orange, then orangeish yellow. Very soft and delicate, juicy when ripe. If picking these, use small containers and protect from crushing or you will have a squashed mess! These are called “bake apples” in Newfoundland, and “aqpiq” in Inuktitut.
Crowberries (Empetraceae family, Empetrum nigrum)
These black berries are the only member of their family in the NWT or Nunavut. Low, prostrate mats of slender branches with tiny linear leaves; they look almost like miniature spruce branches. They bloom as the snow leaves the ground, bright red minute flowers in the axis of the leaves at the end of the branches. Berries in a cluster, easily picked, shiny black, somewhat juicy, each with 4 seeds. The seeds are edible, but make these inconvenient for making jam – they work better for jelly, with the seeds sieved out. These are a staple of the diet of people living where they grow, and reason for numerous excursions out “berry-picking” in the fall. Bears love these as they are easy to eat and their adaptation for dispersal by means of passing through the bear is obvious when you find bear scat in the fall. Foxes and geese also feed avidly on these berries. Indigenous parents often warned the children to not eat too many of these, as the seeds cause constipation.
Other Wild Berries
There are a few other berry producers in the Point Lake area, such as raspberries, soapberry, juniper, currents and their relatives, and roses (producing rose hips), but we’ll cover these at Peterson’s Point Lake Lodge during the Barrenland Naturalis Tour. Most berries are good sources of Vitamin C and important in the diets of all Indigenous groups, eaten raw and stored for winter use by drying or storing in fat or seal oil.
References & Recommended Reading
- Gray, Beverley, 2011. Boreal Herbal, Wild Food and Medicinal Plants of the North. Aroma Borealis, Whitehorse – I’d consider this book, the best recent reference book.
- Gwich’in Ethnobotany, Gwich’in Social and Cultural Institute – a superb website with lots of info on uses of plants (Lower Mackenzie River area) Go to: Gwichin.ca/plants.
- Walker, Marilyn. 1984. Harvesting the Northern Wild. Outcrop, Yellowknife – Although this is out of print, it’s well worth seeking out on a secondary markets. Superb.
- Ziegler, A., Joamie, A., and R. Hainnu. Edible and Medicinal Arctic Plants, an Inuit Elder’s Perspective. Inhabit Media, Iqaluit – Good guide with a lot of traditional Inuit knowledge.
Written By Page Burt