# Broom Crowberry (Corema conradii) > A low evergreen heath of sand barrens and rocky summits, with needle-fine leaves and tufts of purple flowers at the shoot tips in spring. Also called Plymouth crowberry. Category: Native Shrubs. Grown from seed by Blue Whale Trees. Web version: https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/broom-crowberry/ ![Broom crowberry (Corema conradii) needle-leaved shoots tipped with purple flower heads](https://bluewhaletrees.com/img/plants/broom-crowberry-h1610-800.jpg) *Photo: Doug McGrady, CC BY 2.0 ยท [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ACorema_conradii_%28broom-crowberry%29%2C_Wellfleet%2C_MA_%2840627813524%29.jpg)* ## Facts - Type: Shrub - Mature height: 1 to 2 ft - USDA hardiness zones: 5 to 7 - Grows wild in: Sandy barrens, rocky ground, the coast and dry uplands - Native range: Maine, Massachusetts, New Jersey and New York - Sun: Full - Soil moisture: Dry - Growth rate: Slow - Traits: Rare, Evergreen - Sold as: Saplings, Seed Heights and zones are typical ranges for the species in cultivation; local conditions and seed source shift them. ## Availability Not yet priced online. Ask at captain@bluewhaletrees.com or leave an email on the web page to be told when it is listed. ## Notes Broom crowberry is a low, heath-like evergreen of the northeastern coast, from Nova Scotia south to the pine barrens of New Jersey, with one inland stand on the Shawangunk Ridge of New York. It grows in small, scattered colonies on open sand and rock. New York and New Jersey list it as endangered. Its only relative in the genus grows on the coasts of Spain and Portugal. Deer browsing and the loss of the fires that kept its ground open have cut many stands. Give it full sun on poor, sandy or rocky ground, where taller plants cannot shade it. ## Size, growth and what to expect No source rates its growth, so our growth estimator treats it as slow, like our mountain laurel. It makes a dense, much-branched mat 6 inches to 2 feet tall, with narrow leaves an eighth to a quarter inch long, and it is long-lived. Small heads of flowers open at the shoot tips from late April into May. They have no petals, and the purple stamens and pistils give the plants a purple cast. The fruit is a tiny dry drupe, and ants carry the seeds away. It grows wild along the Atlantic coast from Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island to Maine, Massachusetts and the New Jersey Pine Barrens, and inland only on the Shawangunk Ridge of New York. Its home is open sand, pine barrens, sand hills and rocky summits of acid rock, where fire or thin soil keeps other shrubs out. ## How to grow Broom Crowberry Broom crowberry needs full sun, and shrubs that grow over it shade it out. It wants a dry, acid, sandy or rocky soil low in nutrients, like the barrens and ledges where it grows wild. Set plants 2 feet apart and keep them 2 feet from a wall. At its size it can go within 15 feet of overhead wires. Saplings ship bare-root or potted. Plant them in spring or fall in a hole wider than the roots and no deeper, and put the sandy soil back in. Mulch lightly with pine needles, if at all, and keep taller plants away. Broom crowberry is hard to raise from seed, and every treatment tried has given few seedlings. In the wild, seedlings come up in the year or two after a fire, and smoke may help. Water through dry spells in the first summer only. Deer browse it hard, so cage young plants where deer are common. Do not step on it, since trampling harms it. It needs no pruning. Plants are male or female, and only females bear fruit, so plant three or more seedlings for a male and a female. Male plants show the long purple stamens in spring. A hot fire kills the plants outright. ## Sources - [Flora of North America, vol. 8: Corema conradii](http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=250065678) - [NatureServe Explorer: Corema conradii](https://explorer.natureserve.org/Taxon/ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.156445/Corema_conradii) - [New York Natural Heritage Program: Broom Crowberry guide](https://guides.nynhp.org/broom-crowberry/) - [Go Botany, Native Plant Trust: Corema conradii](https://gobotany.nativeplanttrust.org/species/corema/conradii/) - [Center for Plant Conservation: Broom Crowberry plant profile](https://saveplants.org/plant-profile/4461/Corema-conradii/Broom-Crowberry/) - [Martine, Lubertazzi and DuBrul 2005, The biology of Corema conradii: natural history, reproduction, and observations of a post-fire seedling recruitment, Northeastern Naturalist 12(3): 267-286](https://doi.org/10.1656/1092-6194%282005) - [Rocheleau and Houle 2001, Different cost of reproduction for the males and females of the rare dioecious shrub Corema conradii, American Journal of Botany 88: 659-666](https://doi.org/10.2307/2657066) - [Trees and Shrubs Online (International Dendrology Society), from Bean: Corema conradii](https://www.treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/corema/corema-conradii/) - [Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center: Corema conradii](https://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=COCO9) ## Read before planting - [Ten planting mistakes that quietly kill trees](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/ten-planting-mistakes/index.html.md) - [Transplanting young trees: timing, water and protection](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/transplanting-young-trees/index.html.md) - [Protecting young trees from voles, rabbits, deer and squirrels](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/protecting-trees-from-animals/index.html.md) - [The habitat around a tree is part of the tree](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/habitat-around-a-tree/index.html.md) - [Invasive vines and shrubs are what is killing your woods](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/invasive-vines-and-shrubs/index.html.md) ## Related - [Planting-site check](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/site-check/index.html.md): for a thrive, struggle or fail verdict on Broom Crowberry, add ?species=broom-crowberry with zone (2 to 10), sun (full, part, shade) and moisture (dry, average, wet) to that address, for example ?species=broom-crowberry&zone=5&sun=part&moisture=average. - [Companion species for Broom Crowberry](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/companions/index.html.md?species=broom-crowberry): the natives that share its ground and the plants that pair with it in a yard. - [Growth estimator](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/growth/index.html.md): how the height and trunk projections are made; the estimate itself runs in the browser at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/growth/#species=broom-crowberry - [Seed sowing planner](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/sowing/index.html.md): how Broom Crowberry is sown, in the chart for every species (treatment, cold days, depth, timing); the dated plan runs in the browser at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/sowing/#species=broom-crowberry - [Pollination planner](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/pollination/index.html.md): what Broom Crowberry needs for a crop and how many to plant, in the table for every species; the planner runs in the browser at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/pollination/#plants=broom-crowberry:3 - [Bloom and fruit calendar](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/calendar/index.html.md): the months Broom Crowberry flowers and fruits, in the grid for every species.