Gaultheria hispidula | |
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Foliage and ripe fruit | |
Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Clade: | Angiosperms |
Clade: | Eudicots |
Clade: | Asterids |
Order: | Ericales |
Family: | Ericaceae |
Genus: | Gaultheria |
Species: | G. hispidula |
Binomial name | |
Gaultheria hispidula | |
Synonyms | |
Chiogenes hispidula |
Gaultheria hispidula, commonly known as the creeping snowberry or moxie-plum, is a perennial [2] spreading ground-level vine of the heath family Ericaceae. It is native to North America and produces small white edible berries. It fruits from August to September. Its leaves and berries taste and smell like wintergreen. [3]
Gaultheria hispidula is an evergreen prostrate shrub that forms a mat of stems and leaves that can reach 1 m (3.3 ft) in diameter and only 10 cm (3.9 in) high. [4] The small leaves, which are under 1 cm (0.39 in) long, are arranged alternately along the stems. [5] The pale green-white flowers are seen in spring, followed by the white berries in August and September. The fruit is white with small darker-colored hair-like growths. The fruit is edible and has an acidic taste. [4]
Gaultheria hispidula grows in acidic and neutral soils in open woodland and forest verges, [4] particularly on wet ground such as in or on the edge of bogs, often near tree stumps. Its original range spread from far northern Canada to as far south as North Carolina, but it has been extirpated from the southerly portions of its original range.
It is pollinated by solitary bees, bumblebees, bee-flies, and hoverflies, while chipmunks and deer mice spread the seed. [6]
Like most plants in North America, deforestation and competition with invasive ornamentals (especially shade-loving groundcovers, such as English ivy or winter creeper commonly sold at garden centers) affect the creeping snowberry significantly. As a result, it has been extirpated from some of its original range and classified as rare in several states. Despite this, its international status has been evaluated as secure. This is because it is still quite common in its more northerly range of greater Canada. [5] However, deforestation and exotic invasion are continuing problems that affect all forest species in both Canada and the United States. [7] [8]
It is listed as endangered in Maryland and New Jersey, as threatened in Rhode Island, as sensitive in Washington, as rare in Pennsylvania, as presumed extirpated in Ohio, [9] and as a species of special concern in Connecticut. [10]
The Algonquin people use an infusion of the leaves as a tonic for overeating. [11] They also use the fruit as food. [12] The Anticosti use it as a sedative, [13] and the Micmac decoct the leaves or the whole plant for an unspecified purpose. [14] The Ojibwa people use the leaves to make a beverage. [15]
The leaves can be cooked as a vegetable. The fruits can be eaten raw, baked, or used to make jam. [16]
Vaccinium vitis-idaea, the lingonberry, partridgeberry, mountain cranberry or cowberry, is a small evergreen shrub in the heath family Ericaceae, that bears edible fruit. It is native to boreal forest and Arctic tundra throughout the Northern Hemisphere, from Europe and Asia to North America. Lingonberries are picked in the wild and used to accompany a variety of dishes in Northern Baltoscandia, Russia, Canada and Alaska. Commercial cultivation is undertaken in the U.S. Pacific Northwest and in many other regions of the world.
Ribes triste, known as the northern redcurrant, swamp redcurrant, or wild redcurrant, is an Asian and North American shrub in the gooseberry family. It is widespread across Canada and the northern United States, as well as in eastern Asia.
Gaultheria procumbens, also called the eastern teaberry, the checkerberry, the boxberry, or the American wintergreen, is a species of Gaultheria native to northeastern North America from Newfoundland west to southeastern Manitoba, and south to Alabama. It is a member of the Ericaceae.
Gaultheria is a genus of about 135 species of shrubs in the family Ericaceae. The name commemorates Jean François Gaultier of Quebec, an honour bestowed by the Scandinavian Pehr Kalm in 1748 and taken up by Carl Linnaeus in his Species Plantarum. These plants are native to Asia, Australasia and North and South America. In the past, the Southern Hemisphere species were often treated as the separate genus Pernettya, but no consistent reliable morphological or genetic differences support recognition of two genera, and they are now united in the single genus Gaultheria.
Claytonia virginica, the Virginia springbeauty, eastern spring beauty, grass-flower or fairy spud, is an herbaceous perennial in the family Montiaceae. Its native range is eastern North America. Its scientific name honors Colonial Virginia botanist John Clayton (1694–1773).
Clintonia borealis is a species of flowering plant in the lily family Liliaceae. The specific epithet borealis means "of the north," which alludes to the fact that the species tends to thrive in the boreal forests of eastern Canada and northeastern United States.
Vaccinium myrtilloides is a shrub with common names including common blueberry, velvetleaf huckleberry, velvetleaf blueberry, Canadian blueberry, and sourtop blueberry. It is common in much of North America, reported from all 10 Canadian provinces plus Nunavut and Northwest Territories, as well as from the northeastern and Great Lakes states in the United States. It is also known to occur in Montana and Washington.
Berberis vulgaris, also known as common barberry, European barberry or simply barberry, is a shrub in the genus Berberis. It produces edible but sharply acidic berries, which people in many countries eat as a tart and refreshing fruit.
Viburnum trilobum is a species of Viburnum native to northern North America, from Newfoundland west to British Columbia, south to Washington state and east to northern Virginia. It is very closely related to the European and Asian Viburnum opulus, and is often treated as a variety of it, as Viburnum opulus L. var. americanum Ait., or as a subspecies, Viburnum opulus subsp. trilobum (Marshall) Clausen.
Rhus trilobata is a shrub in the sumac genus (Rhus) with the common names skunkbush sumac, sourberry, skunkbush, Squawbush, and three-leaf sumac. It is native to the western half of Canada and the Western United States, from the Great Plains to California and south through Arizona extending into northern Mexico. It can be found from deserts to mountain peaks up to about 7,000 feet (2,100 m) in elevation.
Shepherdia argentea, commonly called silver buffaloberry, bull berry, or thorny buffaloberry, is a species of Shepherdia in the Russian olive family.
Viburnum nudum is a deciduous shrub in the genus Viburnum within the muskroot family, Adoxaceae.
Gaultheria hispida, commonly known as the copperleaf snowberry, is an endemic eudicot of Tasmania, Australia. It is an erect multi-branched shrub, that can be found in wet forests and alpine woodlands. Its berries appear snowy white and leaves are tipped with a copper tinge, hence the common name.
Solidago rugosa, commonly called the wrinkleleaf goldenrod or rough-stemmed goldenrod, is a species of flowering plant in the sunflower family (Asteraceae). It is native to North America, where it is widespread across eastern and central Canada and the eastern and central United States. It is usually found in wet to mesic habitats.
Rhus aromatica, the fragrant sumac, is a deciduous shrub in the family Anacardiaceae native to North America. It is found in southern Canada and nearly all of the lower 48 states except peninsular Florida.
Symphoricarpos albus is a species of flowering plant in the honeysuckle family known by the common name common snowberry. It is native to North America, where it occurs across much of Canada and the northern and western United States.
Gaultheria trichophylla, commonly known as Himalayan snowberry, is a species of plant in the heath and heather family, native to the Himalayas. The flowers range in color from red, to pink, to white; fruits are blue-colored berries; and leaves are approximately 3 mm (0.12 in) in length.
Solidago latissimifolia, common name Elliott's goldenrod, is North American species of flowering plants in the sunflower family. It is native to the Atlantic Coast of the United States and Canada, from Nova Scotia south to Alabama and Florida.
Symphoricarpos hesperius, called the trailing snowberry or creeping snowberry, is a North American species of trailing shrubs in the honeysuckle family. It is native to southwestern Canada and the northwestern United States
Asclepias variegata, commonly called the redring milkweed or white milkweed, is a plant in the family Apocynaceae. It is native to eastern North America, where it is found in Canada and the United States. It is most common in the Southeastern United States, and becomes rare in the northern edge of its range.