Cassiope tetragona
arctic white heather, four-angle moss-heather, four-angle mountain-heather, white arctic mountain heather
decumbent to erect, forming dense mats, hairy.
closely imbricate, usually appressed to pair above, usually 4-ranked (decussate);
blade narrowly triangular, dorsi-ventrally expanded marginally forming abaxial groove, 3–6 × 1–1.5 mm, margins thin, without curled hairs at leaf tips, surfaces with short, stiff pubescence.
sepals 2–3 mm, margins entire;
petals connate to 2/3 their lengths, tips spreading to recurved, corolla white to yellowish, cylindric, 4–10 mm;
stamens 2 mm.
3–5 mm.
= 26.
Cassiope tetragona
Subspecies 2 (2 in the flora).
The Arctic plants of Cassiope tetragona all belong to subsp. tetragona, which is partially replaced by and partly sympatric with subsp. saximontana in northern Cordilleran areas of western Canada, Alaska, Montana, and Washington. The latter differs in pedicel length relative to leaf length and the length of the corolla.
Arctic white heather has traditionally been used by the Inuit for lighting fires. Some Inuit call it itsutit, meaning “fuel for the fire,” plantiksutit, or qijuktaat, meaning “wood fetched.” The flowers are said to taste awful (I. Ootoova et al. 2001).
The subspecies of Cassiope tetragona can generally be distinguished by the characters in the following key. The ranges overlap in Alaska and Yukon, and some collections from this region may prove problematic to assign to either subspecies.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
1. Pedicels extending beyond branch tips, 10+ mm, usually 3+ times leaf length, elongating in fruit; corollas 6-10 mm. | subsp. tetragona |
1. Pedicels not extending beyond branch tips, to 8 mm, usually to 3 times leaf length, not elongating in fruit; corollas 4-6 mm. | subsp. saximontana |
BC
WA
Flora NW
PNW Herbaria
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist
USDA Plants Database
