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moss bell heather, moss-plant

harrimanella, moss-heather, mossplant

Habit Subshrubs small; branches prostrate, spreading, or ascending, mat-forming.
Stems

forming loose mats;

branches lax, tips barely, if at all ascending.

Leaves

loosely appressed;

blade linear to subulate, 2–3 × 0.5–0.8 mm, (ciliolate), apex acute.

densely crowded on stems;

petiole very short, leaving small pegs on stem when leaves fall off;

blade linear-oblong to subulate, margins entire or erose, surfaces glabrous.

Pedicels

(deep red), 0.7–1.5 cm, 3+ times longer than leaves at anthesis.

nodding in flower, erect in fruit, slender;

bracteoles absent.

Flowers

erect;

sepals ovate, ca. 2 mm;

corolla white, ca. 4 × 3 mm, lobes distinct for ca. 1/2 their lengths, tips not recurved;

stamens to 1.5 mm.

sepals distinct or connate basally, ovate to oblong-ovate;

petals connate ca. 1/2 their lengths, white or tinged with pink, apex blunt;

stamens not exserted;

filaments swollen at base;

anthers inverted at anthesis, with awns;

ovary globose to ovoid;

style ovoid or conic;

stigma simple.

Capsules

2–3.5 mm diam. 2n = 32, 48.

borne on erect pedicels, globose to ovoid, dehiscent basipetally.

x

= 16.

Harrimanella hypnoides

Harrimanella

Phenology Flowering Jul–Aug.
Habitat Damp, sheltered places in tundra at lower elevations, and in alpine or subalpine meadows, often in damp soil where snow drifts form
Elevation 50-1900 m (200-6200 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
ME; NH; NY; NL; NT; NU; QC; Greenland; n Europe
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from USDA
North America; n Europe; n Asia
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Harrimanella hypnoides has not been collected in New York state in more than a century and is presumed extirpated there.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Species 2 (2 in the flora).

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Key
1. Leaves divergent, blade linear-oblong, apex obtuse to broadly acute; pedicels barely exceeding leaves at anthesis; capsules 4-5 mm diam.
H. stelleriana
1. Leaves loosely appressed, blade linear to subulate, apex acute; pedicels 3+ times longer than leaves at anthesis; capsules 2-3.5 mm diam.
H. hypnoides
Source FNA vol. 8, p. 495. FNA vol. 8, p. 494. Author: Gary D. Wallace.
Parent taxa Ericaceae > subfam. Harrimanelloideae > Harrimanella Ericaceae > subfam. Harrimanelloideae
Sibling taxa
H. stelleriana
Subordinate taxa
H. hypnoides, H. stelleriana
Synonyms Andromeda hypnoides, Cassiope hypnoides
Name authority (Linnaeus) Coville: Proc. Wash. Acad. Sci. 3: 575. (1901) Coville: Proc. Wash. Acad. Sci. 3: 570, figs. 62, 66. 1901 ,
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