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western moss-heather
Cassiope mertensiana
Cassiope mertensiana is a species of flowering plant known by the common names western moss heather and white mountain heather.
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.
From the article Cassiope mertensiana on Wikipedia (CC BY-SA), quoted section by section
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.
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.
Where it lives
Recorded sightings
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geo-referenced records in GBIF, from museums, herbaria and field observers.
Drag the globe to turn it. Dots are where records exist, not a range map; darker means more records.
In the stacks
Searching the stacks…
Every page naming Cassiope mertensiana in the Biodiversity Heritage Library →
This page is assembled live from iNaturalist, GBIF, Wikipedia, the Source Library and the Internet Archive. It is not yet part of the hand-edited codex. iNaturalist taxon 60530.