Dryas octopetala L.
white mountain-avens (eightpetal mountain-avens)
Rosaceae (Rose family)
Introduction to Vascular Plants
white mountain-avens (eightpetal mountain-avens)
Rosaceae (Rose family)
Introduction to Vascular Plants
Species Information
General:
Prostrate shrub from a woody stem-base; stems trailing, freely branching and rooting, forming dense mats.
Leaves:
Alternate, evergreen, the leaf blades oblong-egg-shaped to linear-lanceolate, 0.8-4 cm long, broadest near the middle, blunt to rounded at the tip, rounded to squared-off or somewhat heart-shaped at the stalked base; the margins coarsely blunt-toothed, rolled under; strongly wrinkled, green and mostly smooth but often warty-glandular above, densely white woolly-hairy (rarely nearly smooth) below; midvein below with gland-tipped brown hairs and/or brown scales with long much-branched white hairs; dead leaves withering but the remains persisting.
Flowers:
Solitary, erect on leafless, 5- to 20-cm tall stalks, the stalks more or less woolly and also stalked-glandular above; corollas white, 2-3 cm across, the petals 8 to 10, oblong to elliptic, spreading, 8-17 mm long; calyces white-woolly and with some black, glandular hairs, the 8 to 10 lobes oblong-lanceolate, 4-8 mm long; ovaries superior; stamens numerous, the filaments smooth.
Fruits:
Achenes, numerous, about 3 mm long, with long (to 3 or 4 cm), feathery styles.
Notes:
Hybrids between this species and Dryas integrifolia can occur where the two species grow together. To separate this species from D. hookeriana look for midvein of underside of leaves with both gland-tipped hairs and white-hairy scales; upper leaf surfaces lacking sticky, unstalked wart-like glands.
USDA Species Characteristics
Flower Colour:
White
Blooming Period:
Late Spring
Fruit/Seed characteristics:
Colour: White
Present from Spring to Summer
Source: The USDA
Ecology
Ecological Framework for Dryas octopetala
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) |
2128 | 604 | 3000 |
| Slope
Gradient (%) |
26 | 0 | 92 |
|
Aspect (degrees) |
242 | 0 | 360 |
| Soil
Moisture Regime (SMR) [0 - very xeric; 4 - mesic; 8 - hydric] |
2 | 0 | 7 |
| Modal
Nutrient Regime
Class |
C | ||
| #
of field plots species was recorded in: |
455 | ||
| Modal
BEC Zone Class |
AT | ||
|
All BEC Zones (# of stations/zone) species was recorded in |
AT(138), BAFA(103), BWBS(1), ESSF(131), IMA(51), MS(1), SBPS(1), SWB(3) | ||
|
Source:
Klinkenberg 2013
|
|||
Habitat and Range
Dry to mesic gravelly slopes and ridgecrests, rocky tundra and heath in the alpine zone; ssp. alaskensis is rare in C BC while the ssp. octopetala and ssp. hookeriana are infrequent in S BC but more common northward; circumboreal, N to AK, YT and NT, S to OR and CO and E to NF.Synonyms
Synonyms and Alternate Names:
Dryas octopetala var. argentea Blytt
Dryas octopetala var. glabrata Hultén
Dryas octopetala var. viscida Hultén
Dryas punctata Juz.