Flora of North America species comparison

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Gaultheria procumbens

American wintergreen, boxberry, checkerberry, eastern spicy-wintergreen, eastern teaberry, wintergreen
Habit Subshrubs, creeping, not mat-forming, rhizomatous or stoloniferous; adventitious roots absent.
Stems

decumbent, branches ascending, 5–20 cm, lanate, glabrescent.
Leaf

blades (pale green abaxially, bright green, glaucous adaxially), obovate to oval or orbiculate, 1.5–4.5 cm, base cuneate to rounded, margins serrate (teeth bristle-tipped), (slightly revolute), apex acute to rounded or obtuse, rarely mucronate, surfaces sparsely hairy (hairs unbranched).
Inflorescences

axillary, solitary flowers or with 2–3 nodding flowers per node;

bracts reddish, cordate, distinctly concave, 1–2 mm, not exceeding sepals, ciliate marginally.
Pedicels

pinkish, 1–3 mm, lanate;

bracteoles absent.
Flowers

sepals 5, connate 1/2 to nearly their entire lengths, white, cordate, 2.5–3.5 mm, ciliate marginally;

petals 5, connate nearly their entire lengths, white, 8–10 mm, adaxial surface lanate-hairy, corolla urceolate, lobes 1 mm;

filaments (pinkish), slightly widened proximally, lanate-tomentose;

anthers with 2 apical awns (awns not bifurcating), dehiscent by subterminal pores proximal to awns.
Fruits

bright red to reddish violet, 6–9 mm wide.
2n

= 44, 88.

Gaultheria procumbens
Phenology Flowering Jun–Sep; fruiting Sep–Jan.
Habitat Mixed woodlands, mesic forests, dry, acidic woodlands, powerline rights-of-way, roadbanks, old pastures, coniferous woodlands, maritime heathlands, montane heath balds, bogs and fens, usually in acidic and/or sandy soils
Elevation 0-1500 m (0-4900 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AL; CT; DC; DE; GA; IL; IN; KY; MA; MD; ME; MI; MN; NC; NH; NJ; NY; OH; PA; RI; SC; TN; VA; VT; WI; WV; MB; NB; NF; NS; ON; PE; QC
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Although common or abundant in most of its range, Gaultheria procumbens has been listed as endangered in Illinois.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 8, p. 514.
Parent taxa Ericaceae > subfam. Vaccinioideae > Gaultheria
Sibling taxa
G. hispidula, G. humifusa, G. ovatifolia, G. pyroloides, G. shallon
Name authority Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 395. 1753 ,
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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