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Slender Wintergreen - Gaultheria ovatifolia
General Description
Slender wintergreen is a low shrub with slender, nearly prostrate, hairy stems, 5-20 cm (2-8 in) long. The alternate, mostly glabrous leaves, 2-4 cm (ca. 1 in) long, are egg-shaped with finely toothed margins. Single stalked flowers occur in the leaf axils. Each white flower, 3-5 mm long, has a 5-lobed, urn-shaped corolla and a shorter, brown-hairy, 5-lobed calyx. The fruit is a bright red, globose berry, 6-8 mm wide.
Phenology
Mature fruit in August.
Diagnostic Characteristics
Gaultheria humifusa has a glabrous calyx and leaves usually less than 2 cm long. The species exhibits low levels of fruit production in our area.
Species Range
Montana Range
Range Descriptions
Native
Observations in Montana Natural Heritage Program Database
Number of Observations: 34
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Map Help and Descriptions
Relative Density
Recency
(Observations spanning multiple months or years are excluded from time charts)
Habitat
Moist forests, often dominated by Thuja plicata, of terraces and lower slopes in the valleys and lower montane zone.
Stewardship Responsibility
References
- Additional ReferencesLegend:
View Online Publication
Do you know of a citation we're missing?- Lesica, P., M.T. Lavin, and P.F. Stickney. 2012. Manual of Montana Vascular Plants. Fort Worth, TX: BRIT Press. viii + 771 p.
Lesica, P., M.T. Lavin, and P.F. Stickney. 2022. Manual of Montana Vascular Plants, Second Edition. Fort Worth, TX: BRIT Press. viii + 779 p.- Lorain, C. C. 1988. Floristic history and distribution of coastal disjunct plants of the northern Rocky Mountains. M.S. thesis. College of Forestry, Wildlife, and Range Sciences, University of Idaho, Moscow. 221 pp.
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