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Oregon wintergreen, slender wintergreen, western tea-berry, western wintergreen

Habit Shrubs, spreading, not mat-forming, rhizomatous; adventitious roots absent.
Stems

decumbent, branches ascending to erect, (reddish), 15–30 cm, lanate (hairs white to brownish), sometimes glabrescent.

Leaf

blades broadly ovate to subcordate, 2–4 cm, base rounded to cordate, margins crenulate to serrate, apex acute to, rarely, rounded, surfaces glabrous.

Inflorescences

axillary, solitary flowers;

bracts reddish, ovate, 1–1.5 mm, not exceeding sepals, sparsely hairy.

Pedicels

green or red tinged, 1–1.5 mm, glabrous or sparsely hairy;

bracteoles 2–6 (in pairs), dark green or red tinged, ovate, 1–2 mm, glabrous or sparsely hairy.

Flowers

sepals 5, connate basally, reddish, ovate, 1.5–2 mm, lanate-hairy;

petals 5, connate nearly their entire lengths, white to pinkish, 3–4 mm, glabrous, corolla urceolate to campanulate, lobes 1 mm;

filaments conspicuously wider proximally (base with rounded, auriclelike projections), glabrous;

anthers without awns, dehiscent by terminal pores.

Fruits

bright red, 5–7 mm wide.

Gaultheria ovatifolia

Phenology Flowering late May-early Jul; fruiting Aug–Sep.
Habitat Relatively dry, mixed hardwood and coniferous forests, damp streamsides and moist soils, rocky slopes
Elevation 300-1600 m (1000-5200 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
CA; ID; MT; OR; WA; BC
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Source FNA vol. 8, p. 513.
Parent taxa Ericaceae > subfam. Vaccinioideae > Gaultheria
Sibling taxa
G. hispidula, G. humifusa, G. procumbens, G. pyroloides, G. shallon
Name authority A. Gray: Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 19: 85. 1883 ,
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