Cassiope tetragona (L.) D. Don
four-angled mountain-heather (white arctic mountain heather)
Ericaceae (Crowberry family)
Introduction to Vascular Plants
four-angled mountain-heather (white arctic mountain heather)
Ericaceae (Crowberry family)
Introduction to Vascular Plants
.jpg){kind=link}
SUBTAXA PRESENT IN BC
Species Information
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
USDA Species Characteristics
Flower Colour:
White
Blooming Period:
Late Spring
Fruit/Seed characteristics:
Colour: Brown
Present over the Summer
Source: The USDA
Ecology
Ecological Framework for Cassiope tetragona
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)
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) |
1803 | 34 | 3000 |
| Slope
Gradient (%) |
23 | 0 | 84 |
|
Aspect (degrees) |
11 | 0 | 360 |
| Soil
Moisture Regime (SMR) [0 - very xeric; 4 - mesic; 8 - hydric] |
3 | 0 | 7 |
| Modal
Nutrient Regime
Class |
C | ||
| #
of field plots species was recorded in: |
328 | ||
| Modal
BEC Zone Class |
BAFA | ||
|
All BEC Zones (# of stations/zone) species was recorded in |
AT(15), BAFA(127), CWH(1), ESSF(90), IMA(42), MH(5), SWB(30) | ||
|
Source:
Klinkenberg 2013
|
|||
Habitat and 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.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 |