club-moss mountain-heather (clubmoss mountain heather)
Ericaceae (Crowberry family)
Introduction to Vascular Plants
SUBTAXA PRESENT IN BC
Species Information
General:
Dwarf shrub, mat-forming; stems prostrate or decumbent, 5-20 cm long, about 2 mm wide including appressed leaves.
Leaves:
Evergreen, opposite, 4-ranked but not in four distinct rows, appressed, egg- to lance-shaped, 1.5-3 mm long, thinly papery-margined, often fringed and long-hairy at tip, the concave upper surface often hairy, the convex lower surface not grooved; unstalked.
Flowers:
Solitary in leaf axils, nodding on glabrous stalks up to 10 mm long, longer than the subtending leaves; corollas cream to white, bell-shaped, the lobes shorter than the tube, 5-7 mm long; calyces 2-2.5 mm long, papery-margined.
Fruits:
Capsules, globe-shaped, about 3 mm wide.
Illustration
If more than one illustration is available for a species (e.g., separate illustrations were provided for two subspecies) then links to the separate images will be provided below. Note that individual subspecies or varietal illustrations are not always available.
Illustration Source: The Illustrated Flora of British Columbia
Ecology
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)
| Site Information |
Value / Class |
||
|
Avg |
Min |
Max |
|
| Elevation
(metres) |
860 | 750 | 990 |
| Slope
Gradient (%) |
55 | 20 | 88 |
|
Aspect (degrees) |
171 | 20 | 240 |
| Soil
Moisture Regime (SMR) [0 - very xeric; 4 - mesic; 8 - hydric] |
3 | 2 | 4 |
| Modal
Nutrient Regime
Class |
B | ||
| #
of field plots species was recorded in: |
7 | ||
| Modal
BEC Zone Class |
CMA | ||
|
All BEC Zones (# of stations/zone) species was recorded in |
AT(1), CMA(4), MH(2) | ||
|
Source:
Klinkenberg 2013
|
|||
Habitat and Range
Mesic to dry slopes, heath, and meadows in the subalpine and alpine zones; infrequent in NW BC, rare on NW Vancouver Island; amphiberingian, N to AK; NE Asia.Synonyms
Synonyms and Alternate Names:
Cassiope lycopodioides subsp. cristipilosa
Cassiope lycopodioides subsp. lycopodioides
Taxonomic Keys
1. Leaves prominently grooved on the back...............Cassiope tetragona
1. Leaves not prominently grooved on the back...................2 2. Leaves in four distinct rows, not paper-margined; branches, including foliage, about 4 mm wide........................Cassiope mertensiana 2. Leaves not in four distinct rows, paper-margined; branches, including foliage, about 2 mm wide.........................Cassiope lycopodioides |