[Mountain Heathers: The Genus Cassiope East of the Cascade Mts. of Oregon and Washington]

Merten's Mountain Heather, Western Moss Heather, Western Mountain Heather, White Heather

Cassiope mertensiana var. mertensiana

Synonym: Cassiope mertensiana ssp. mertensiana

Merten's Mountain Heather, Western Moss Heather, Western Mountain Heather, White Heather: Cassiope mertensiana var. mertensiana (Synonym: Cassiope mertensiana ssp. mertensiana)

The photo above shows a close-up of the flowers, sepals and leaves of white mountain-heather as seen in the summit crater of Potato Hill, to the north of Mt. Adams along Forest Rd 5603 at the boundary between the Gifford Pinchot NF and Yakama Indian Reservation.......June 21, 2005.

Characteristics:

White mountain heather is an attractive matted perennial wildflower with numerous, branched spreading stems that recline along the ground and turn up at the tips. These stems measure 5-30 cm long. The bright green, glabrous leaves are strongly concave above and closely appressed to the stems. The leaves are opposite and 4-ranked on the stems and also closely overlap. Individual leaves are 2-5 mm long and ovate-lanceolate in shape.

The clusters of several flowers are found near the branch tips in the upper leaf axils. The peduncles are slender and up to 6-10 mm long while the pedicels are 5-30 mm long. The sepals are reddish and ovate in shape with entire to minutely toothed margins. The nodding corolla is bell-shaped and whitish or pink-tinged with ovate lobes about 1/3 the length of the corolla tube. The entire corolla is about 6 mm long and the tips of the lobes are spreading or reflexed only at their tips (See photo above.). 8-10 stamens are present and the filaments are not enlarged at the base. The fruit is a globose, 4-5 chambered capsule with the valves 2-cleft upon splitting.


Habitat:

White mountain heather is found in clearings and most meadows from timberline to well up into alpine habitats.


Range:

White mountain heather may be found from Alaska south to California and east to the Canadian Rockies and south to Montana and Nevada.


Paul Slichter