General: Coarse dwarf shrub, mat-forming; stems 4-angled, stiff, ascending to erect, 5-30 cm long, finely hairy.
Leaves: Evergreen, opposite, distinctly in 4 rows, appressed, nearly concealing the stems, egg- to lance-shaped, 2-6 mm long, deeply grooved on the back, conspicuously finely hairy and minutely fringed on outer surface, usually glabrous or glandular on concave inner surface; unstalked.
Flowers: Solitary in leaf axils to few near branch tips, nodding on stalks 10-25 mm long, longer than the subtending leaves; corollas white or pinkish, bell-shaped, (4) 5-10 mm long, lobes egg-shaped, almost 1/2 the length of the tube; calyces reddish, egg-shaped, 2-2.5 mm long, entire; stamens not enlarged at the base.
Fruits: Capsules, globe-shaped, glabrous, about 3 mm wide.
Notes: Two varieties are recognized in BC:
1. Flowers usually less than 5 (6) mm long, the flower stalks generally less than twice the length of the subtending leaves........................ var. saximontana (Small) C. L. Hitchc.
1. Flowers 6-10 mm long, the flower stalks proportionately longer, more than twice the length of the subtending leaves........................... var. tetragona
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
Habitat / Range
Moist to dry meadows, heath, and rocky slopes in the subalpine and alpine zones; frequent in BC in and E of the Coast-Cascade Mountains; circumpolar, N to AK, YT, and NT, E to N PQ, and S to WA and MT; Eurasia.
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 very shade-intolerant, alpine, circumpolar, evergreen shrub (transcontinental in North America). Occurs in continental alpine tundra and subalpine boreal climates on fresh to very moist, nitrogen-medium soils. Scattered to plentiful in heath communities affected by snow-drifts; its occurrence increases with increasing continentality. Often associated with Cassiope mertensiana and Phyllodoce glanduliflora in the coast-interior ecotone. Characteristic of alpine communities.
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