General: Dioecious shrubs, 0.1-0.6 m tall, layering; stems decumbent or erect, flexible at base; twigs yellow- to red-brown, sparsely hairy.
Leaves: Alternate, simple, narrowly elliptic to broadly egg-shaped, 1.7-6.2 cm long, 0.8-2.6 cm wide, lower surface not glaucous, smooth, upper surface shiny, smooth, margins blunt-toothed, bases and tips pointed to rounded; leaf stalks without glandular dots at top; stipules rudimentary, rarely leaflike.
Flowers: Unisexual, lacking sepals and petals, borne in catkins which flower as leaves emerge, the catkins stout, on leafy twigs; floral bracts dark or pale, smooth or hairy, hairs straight or wavy; stamens 2; ovaries 1, smooth; styles 0.3-0.5 mm long.
Fruits: Capsules which split open to release the seeds, each of which is surrounded by a tuft of hairs; stalks 0.6-1.6 mm long.
Notes: A related taxon, which has been named S. myrtillifolia var. cordata (Andersson) Dorn, is treated here as S. pseudomyrsinites Andersson. See that species for comments. S. myrtillifolia may hybridize with S. candida.
Deep moss in moist to wet muskeg, fens and lake and river shores; throughout BC east of the Coast-Cascade Mountains, common in N BC, infrequent in S BC; N to AK, YT and NT, E to ON, disjunct PQ, NB and NF and S to WY and CO.
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)
