CROWBERRY or CRAKEBERRY (Empetrum nigrum), the English name for a low-growing heath-like shrub belonging to the family Empetraceae, found on heaths and rocks in the British Isles and across northern Europe, Asia and North America and also in the Andes. • It has slender, wiry, spread ing branches covered with short, narrow, stiff leaves, the margins of which are recurved to form a hollow cylinder concealing the hairy under surface. The minute flowers are succeeded by black, edible, berry-like fruits, one-fourth to one-third of an inch in diameter, which are much eaten by birds.