Gaultheria ovatifolia |
Gaultheria |
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Oregon wintergreen, slender wintergreen, western tea-berry, western wintergreen |
gaultheria, salal, snowberry, wintergreen |
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Habit | Shrubs, spreading, not mat-forming, rhizomatous; adventitious roots absent. | Shrubs or subshrubs, (sometimes rhizomatous or stoloniferous and rooting at nodes). | ||||||||||||||||||||
Stems | decumbent, branches ascending to erect, (reddish), 15–30 cm, lanate (hairs white to brownish), sometimes glabrescent. |
erect or procumbent; twigs glabrous or hairy. |
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Leaves | blades broadly ovate to subcordate, 2–4 cm, base rounded to cordate, margins crenulate to serrate, apex acute to, rarely, rounded, surfaces glabrous. |
persistent, aromatic; blade ovate, elliptic, or orbiculate to subcordate or reniform, coriaceous, margins serrate, crenate, or ciliate, plane or revolute, surfaces glabrous or hairy; venation reticulodromous or brochidodromous. |
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Inflorescences | axillary, solitary flowers; bracts reddish, ovate, 1–1.5 mm, not exceeding sepals, sparsely hairy. |
axillary, racemes, 2–12-flowered, sometimes flowers solitary; (bracteoles closely subtending flowers). |
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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. |
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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. |
sepals (4–)5, connate basally to nearly their entire lengths, (sometimes exceeding petals), ovate, deltate, or cordate; petals (4–)5, connate ca. 1/2 to nearly their entire lengths, white or cream to pink, corolla urceolate to campanulate, lobes much shorter than tube; stamens 8 or 10, included, (inserted at base of ovary); filaments straight, flattened, usually widest proximally, glabrous or hairy, sometimes papillose, without spurs; anthers with 2–4 awns or without awns, dehiscent by pores with ventral slits, (white disintegration tissue present dorsally along connective); pistil 4–5-carpellate; ovary 5-locular; stigma truncate or capitate. |
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Fruits | bright red, 5–7 mm wide. |
capsular, 5-valved, globose, fleshy, (surrounded by persistent, fleshy calyx). |
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Seeds | 20–80+, ovoid; testa smooth. |
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x | = 11, 12, 13. |
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Gaultheria ovatifolia |
Gaultheria |
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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 |
CA; ID; MT; OR; WA; BC
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North America; Mexico; Central America; South America; West Indies (Hispaniola, Windward Islands); e Asia; Pacific Islands (New Zealand); Australia (including Tasmania); mostly temperate or montane in tropical latitudes |
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Discussion | Species ca. 115 (6 in the flora). Gaultheria is characterized by its fruit and by the stamens having flattened filaments and awned anthers. All of the species are woody to varying degrees; the growth form varies from erect or spreading shrubs to procumbent or creeping and mat-forming. Eastern Asia and the Andes mountains of South America are centers of diversity for this genus. In North America, the fruits and leaves of Gaultheria are a food source for wildlife, and native peoples have medicinal and food uses for some species. Oil of wintergreen (methyl salicylate) is found in the leaves and fruits of some species. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Key |
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Source | FNA vol. 8, p. 513. | FNA vol. 8, p. 512. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Parent taxa | Ericaceae > subfam. Vaccinioideae > Gaultheria | Ericaceae > subfam. Vaccinioideae | ||||||||||||||||||||
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Subordinate taxa | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Name authority | A. Gray: Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 19: 85. 1883 , | Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 395. (1753): Gen. Pl. ed. 5, 187. 1754 , | ||||||||||||||||||||
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