Species: Chimaphila umbellata

Common Wintergreen

Species

Plants

Encyclopedia of Puget Sound

Classification

Kingdom

Plantae

Phylum

Anthophyta

Class

Dicotyledoneae

Order

Ericales

Family

Pyrolaceae

Genus

Chimaphila

NatureServe

Source:
ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.160011

Classification

Other Global Common Names

Pipsissewa - Prince's-pine - chimaphile à ombelles - pipsissewa

Informal Taxonomy

Plants, Vascular - Flowering Plants - Other flowering plants

Formal Taxonomy

Plantae - Anthophyta - Dicotyledoneae - Ericales - Pyrolaceae - Chimaphila

Ecology and Life History

Short General Description

Perennial with lance-shaped, toothed and shiny leaves in whorls, growing 6-12 inches tall. Flowers (June-Aug.) are white with red anthers (Foster and Duke 1999).

Ecology Comments

All three Chimaphila species are slow-growing and slow-propagating plants (Moore 1978). C. umbellata tends to propagate from rhizomes, but seldom from seeds. The spreading rhizomes of this plant aerate soil. Plants tend not to grow in highly disturbed sites, but may in some circumstances survive light to moderate fires. However, fire probably causes populations to decline (Vance et al. in press).

Conservation Status

NatureServe Global Status Rank

Global Status Last Reviewed

2001-01-26

Global Status Last Changed

1984-02-29

Distribution

Conservation Status Map

Global Range

Widespread in temperate and boreal regions of North America, Eurasia, and Japan; Chimaphila umbellata grows from Alaska east to Maine and Newfoundland, south to Guatemala and Georgia, with isolated populations occurring in the mountains of Mexico and Guatemala and on the island of Hispaniola.

ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.160011