Cassiope mertensiana

Cassiope mertensiana is a species of flowering plant known by the common names western moss heather and white mountain heather.

This article is about the plant with common name white mountain heather. For the plant with common names including white Arctic mountain heather and Arctic white heather, see Cassiope tetragona.

Cassiope mertensiana
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Ericales
Family: Ericaceae
Genus: Cassiope
Species:
C. mertensiana
Binomial name
Cassiope mertensiana

This heather is native to subalpine areas of western North America, from Alaska to the mountains of California. It is a small, branching shrub which forms patches along the ground and in rocky crevices.[1]

Description

Cassiope mertensiana has short, erect, snakelike stems that are covered in tiny leathery scalelike leaves only a few millimeters long. From between the layers of scale leaves emerge reddish pedicels each bearing a petite, hanging, down-facing, bell-shaped flower. The bractlets are red and the contrasting flower is white.

The white flower contrasts with the red bractlets.

Although the shrub tends to grow in areas where there is a lot of accumulation of snow, adequate rain precipitation is needed for the continued growth of Cassiope Mertensiana. The shrub must be exposed to enough sunlight and warmer conditions for proper growth during the growing season. [2]

References
  1. Brietzke, Chanda; Starzomski, Brian. "White mountain-heather, western moss heather, Cassiope mertensiana". Biodiversity of the Central Coast. Retrieved 17 March 2015.
  2. Rayback, Shelly A.; Lini, Andrea; Berg, David L. (2012). "The dendroclimatological potential of an alpine shrub, cassiope mertensiana, from mount rainier, wa, usa". Geografiska Annaler: Series A, Physical Geography. 94 (3): 413–427. doi:10.1111/j.1468-0459.2012.00463.x. S2CID 140554134.

Lini, A., & Berg, D. L. (2012, May 25). THE DENDROCLIMATOLOGICAL POTENTIAL OF AN ALPINE SHRUB, CASSIOPE MERTENSIANA, FROM MOUNT RAINIER, WA, USA. Retrieved March 3, 2020, from http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1468-0459.2012.00463.x/abstract

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