Flower:

Short racemes of soft, nodding white to pink bell-like flowers ¼ inch wide by 3/8 inch long, with the opening smaller than the base, and 5 fringed pink lobes. One plant has several clusters on branching stems.

Leaves and stem:

Leaves are ¼ to ½ inch wide, ½ to 1 inch long, leathery, evergreen, round-oval and glossy with smooth edges, tapering at the base to a short leaf stem. Attachment is alternate but may look opposite when crowded on the stem. Stems are to 24 inches long, woody, covered with very short hairs, and sprawling with many branches, forming large dense mats that can be 3 or more feet across.

Fruit:

Fruit is a bright red, inedible berry (drupe) of roughly the same size as the flowers, containing 5 nutlets.

Notes:

Bearberry has many regional common names, including barren (or burren) myrtle, bear's whortleberry, mountain box, and hog crawberry, with the fruit also known as rapper dandies and bear's grape. Common on rocky out croppings, sandy pine barrens, beach ridges and road rights-of-way, the diverse number of common names tells you plant gets noticed where ever it grows. It is classified as a shrub.