General: Low, spreading shrub, to 5 cm tall; stems slender, to 20 cm long, very fine brownish-hairy.
Leaves: Alternate, evergreen, leathery, egg-shaped to almost heart-shaped, (1.5) 2-4 cm long, (1) 1.5-3 cm wide, tips pointed; margins usually conspicuously sharp-toothed and thickened.
Flowers: Solitary in leaf axils; flower stalks short, with bractlets; corollas white or pinkish, bell-shaped, 5-lobed, 3.5-5 mm long; calyces brown, about 2 mm long, reddish brown-hairy; anthers opening by terminal pores, without awns.
Fruits: Berrylike, bright red, globe-shaped, 6-8 mm wide.
Mesic to wet coniferous forests, heath, and high-elevation bogs in the montane and subalpine zones; frequent in S BC south of 52degreeN; S to N CA and ID.
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 shade-tolerant/intolerant, montane to subalpine, Western North American evergreen shrub distributed less in the Pacific than the Cordilleran region. Occurs predominantly in continental subalpine boreal and cool temperate climates on very dry to moderately dry, nitrogen-poor soils. Scattered in coniferous forests on water-shedding sites on eastern Vancouver Island and in the coast-interior ecotone; its occurrence increases with increasing continentality. Commonly associated with Pleurozium schreberi, Rhytidiopsis robusta, and Vaccinium membranaceum. An oxylophytic species characteristic of Mor humus forms.
