Chamaedaphne calyculata (Leatherleaf) - photos and description
Origin: Native.
General: Evergreen shrub, stems solitary, or with a branching growth habit. Lower woody twigs with fine hairs.
Flowers: Flowers are white, urn-shaped and grow in racemes at stem tips, hanging along the underside of the stem. I measured flowers to 7 mm long. Blooms in May.
Leaves: Leaves are alternate, waxy, elliptical-oval, alternate, short stalked, finely toothed. Leaves lighter in colour on the underside. Leaves with small white scales on leaf bottom and top. I measured a large leaf blade at 35 mm long and 17 mm wide.
Height: Height listed in Budd's Flora to 100 cm, I measured plants to 58 cm tall.
Habitat: Bogs and lake margins, usually in sphagnum, boreal forest.
Abundance: Common.
When and where photographed: Photos taken May 26th, swampy lakeshore, growing in sphagnum moss, Porcupine Hills, about 450 km north east of Regina, SK, and May 30th sphagnum bog in the boreal forest, about 400 km north east of our home in Regina, SK.