General: Creeping shrub, stems slender, 10-40 cm long; brownish, appressed, forward-pointing bristly hairs on the stems, calyces, and lower surfaces of the leaves.
Leaves: Alternate, evergreen, leathery, elliptic to egg-shaped, 4-10 mm long, entire, margins rolled under, appressed-bristly beneath; stalks 1.5-2.5 mm long.
Flowers: Few, solitary in leaf axils, on short nodding flower stalks, subtended by 2 egg-shaped bracts; corollas white or pinkish, bell-shaped, deeply 4-lobed, about 2 mm long; calyces bell-shaped, deeply 4-parted; stamens 8, filaments flattened, shorter than the anthers; anthers each with 2 very short terminal awns, opening by 2 large lateral pores.
Fruits: Berries, clear white, 3-5 mm wide, bristly-hairy, surrounded by the calyx, juicy with a mild wintergreen flavour and aroma.
1. Leaves less than 1 cm long, bristly beneath, with margins rolled under; flowers less than 3 mm long, parts in 4's; fruit white..........................G. hispidula
Habitat / Range
Moist to wet coniferous forests and bogs in the montane zone; frequent in S and C BC east of the Coast-Cascade Mountains, rare northward; E to NF, and S to N ID, MN, PA, and NC.
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)
