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Chamaedaphne calyculata - (image 1 of 8)

Taxonomy

Family: Ericaceae

Habitat

Characteristic plant of bogs.

Associates

Acer rubra, Aronia prunifolia, Betula pumila, Ilex verticillata, Larix laricina, Rhus vernix. Closer to open water found with Andromeda glaucophylla, Drosera rotundifolia, Dulichium arundinaceum, Osmunda regalis, Potentilla palustris, Sarracenia purpurea, Vaccinium macrocarpon, Vaccinium oxycoccus.

Distribution

Circumboreal; in North America south to NJ, OH, northern IN, northern IL, and in mountains to NC.

Morphology

Multi-stemmed, evergreen shrub to 1.5 m. Leaves leathery, green, dotted with round scurfy scale, turning bronze with age. Flowers white, bell-shaped, in one sided racemes.  

Notes

Flowers late June into late August

Wetland indicator: Obligate

A circumpolar species. Develops a bronze to reddish coloration in fall. Can dominate the shrub zone of bogs and in some cases cover the entire area of a bog. The coloration of a leatherleaf bog is an interesting purple-green.

References

Gleason, Henry A. and A. Cronquist. 1991. Manual of Vascular Plants of Northeastern United States and Adjacent Canada. Second Ed.
The New York Botanical Garden. Bronx, NY

Swink, F. and G. Wilhelm. 1994. Plants of the Chicago Region.
Indiana Academy of Science. The Morton Arboretum. Lisle, Illinois.

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