While the cranberry is famous during thanksgiving, people often don’t think of it as part of our ecosystems, but it has been both a staple in the diets of both people and wildlife for a very, very long time. Culturally it also has a lot of significance outside of Thanksgiving, covered somewhat in The Pine Barrens which I reviewed. Given that they enjoy wet areas, they have adapted a small air bubble in their fruits, which allow them to float. That is why you have likely seen commercials of cranberries floating in a (man-made) flooded area for harvest. But aside from food and commercial harvesting, it is an attractive plant with beautiful flowers and fruit.
The cranberry is a very short bush, often shorter than a foot tall, with trailing branches. Thus, they often form dense mats in bog habitats, along stream banks, and other wet areas. While they do have extensive rhizomes, they are not easy to transplant, so it is probably best not to try propagation that way, but spring cuttings can be used. Cranberries are very valuable to native bees and are hosts to at least 41 species of caterpillars. As always, the fruit itself is a nutritious food source to a variety of wildlife.
Native Range Map:
USDA Plants Profile
Photo Credit:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=146690