General: Low, matted shrub; stems ascending, 5-40 cm tall, finely hairy and glandular, becoming glabrous.
Leaves: Alternate, evergreen, spreading-ascending, linear or linear-oblong, 3-15 mm long, 1-2 mm wide, blunt to nearly pointed, deeply grooved beneath, margins appearing to be rolled under, glabrous except margins with small, fine, glandular teeth.
Flowers: Several to many, in terminal clusters, fragrant, nodding; flower stalks about 2 cm long, finely glandular-hairy; corollas deep pinkish-rose, bell-shaped, 5-9 mm long, glabrous externally, the lobes curved back; calyces reddish, 2-3 mm long, lobes lance egg-shaped, blunt, glabrous except for finely fringed margins; stamens 10, included; filaments glabrous, anthers reddish.
Fruits: Capsules, nearly globe-shaped, 2.5-3.5 mm long, 3-4 mm wide, glandular-hairy.
Notes: The hybrid between P. empetriformis and P. glanduliflora is known as P. x intermedia (Hook.) Rydb., and is quite common where the two occur together. The hybrids generally have white to pale rose corollas, and other intermediate characters.
Dry to moist open forests, meadows and heath in the upper montane to alpine zones; frequent throughout BC except in the NE and on the Queen Charlotte Islands; N to SE AK, YT, and NT, E to W AB, and S to CA, ID, and MT.
The table below shows the species-specific information calculated from original data (BEC database) provided by the BC Ministry of Forests and Range. (Updated August, 2013)
A shade-intolerant, subÂalpine to alpine, oxylophytic, Asian and WestÂern North American evergreen shrub; distributed equally in the Pacific and Cordilleran regions. Species occurs on moderately dry to fresh, nitrogen-poor soils in alpine tundra and subalpine boreal climates. Common, frequently dominant, in high-elevation, parkland forests and heath communities on water-shedding sites which are often affected by seepage from late-melting snowbanks. Characteristic of alpine communities.
