Flora of North America species comparison

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Gaultheria hispidula

cancer wintergreen, creeping spicy-wintergreen, creeping-snowberry
Habit Subshrubs (vinelike), creeping, mat-forming, stoloniferous; roots adventitious or fibrous.
Stems

repent, 10–14 cm, densely strigose.
Leaf

blades elliptic to oval, 0.3–1 cm, base cuneate to rounded, margins ciliate, (slightly revolute), apex acute, abaxial surface strigose, adaxial glabrous.
Inflorescences

axillary, solitary flowers;

bracts light green, broadly lanceolate, 1.5–2 mm, exceeding sepals, sparsely strigose.
Pedicels

light green, 1.5–3 mm, strigose;

bracteoles absent.
Flowers

sepals 4, connate ca. 1/2 their lengths, white, ovate, 1–1.5 mm, hairy basally (hairs dark red);

petals 4, connate 1/3 their lengths, white, 2–3.5 mm, glabrous, corolla campanulate, lobes 1.5–2 mm;

filaments broadest in middle and narrowing distally and proximally, glabrous;

anthers with 2 bifurcating awns, dehiscent by subterminal pores.
Fruits

white, 2.5–6 mm wide.
2n

= 22.

Gaultheria hispidula
Phenology Flowering Jun-early Aug; fruiting Jul–Sep.
Habitat Sphagnum bogs, fens and mossy, coniferous woodland forests and swamps, often on moss-covered or rotting logs
Elevation 30-1400 m (100-4600 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
CT; ID; MA; MD; ME; MI; MN; NH; NJ; NY; OH; PA; RI; VT; WA; WI; WV; AB; BC; MB; NB; NL; NS; ON; PE; QC; SK
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Source FNA vol. 8, p. 513.
Parent taxa Ericaceae > subfam. Vaccinioideae > Gaultheria
Sibling taxa
G. humifusa, G. ovatifolia, G. procumbens, G. pyroloides, G. shallon
Synonyms Vaccinium hispidulum, Chiogenes hispidula
Name authority (Linnaeus) Muhlenberg ex Bigelow: Fl. Boston. ed. 2, 165. 1824 ,
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



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(If the plant you're looking for doesn't show up in the auto-complete list, that means it either isn't described in Flora of North America yet, or it's listed under a synonym. And please note that Flora of North America is still missing several plant families, including Fabaceae, Apiaceae, Boraginaceae, and Polemoniaceae.)

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