Plantae > Tracheophyta > Magnoliopsida > Ericales > Ericaceae > Chamaedaphne > Chamaedaphne calyculata

Chamaedaphne calyculata (leatherleaf)

Synonyms:

Wikipedia Abstract

Chamaedaphne calyculata, leatherleaf, is a shrub in the plant family Ericaceae and the only species in the genus Chamaedaphne. It has a wide distribution throughout the cool temperate and subarctic regions of the Northern Hemisphere. The name Chamaedaphne comes from the Greek for "ground laurel"; the common name comes from its tough, leather-like leaf. Leatherleaf is used as a food plant by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species including Coleophora ledi.
View Wikipedia Record: Chamaedaphne calyculata

Attributes

Bloom Period [1]  Early Spring
Drought Tolerance [1]  Low
Edible [2]  May be edible. See the Plants For A Future link below for details.
Fire Tolerance [1]  Medium
Flower Type [2]  Hermaphrodite
Frost Free Days [1]  3 months 20 days
Fruit/Seed Abundance [1]  Low
Fruit/Seed Begin [1]  Summer
Fruit/Seed End [1]  Fall
Growth Form [1]  Rhizomatous
Growth Period [1]  Spring, Summer
Growth Rate [1]  Moderate
Hazards [2]  A toxin, called 'andromedotoxin' can be released from the plant if it is infused in boiling water; See notes below regarding use of the plant for tea.
Leaf Type [2]  Evergreen
Lifespan [1]  Perennial
Pollinators [2]  Insects, Lepidoptera
Propagation [1]  Bare Root, Container, Cutting, Seed
Root Depth [1]  8 inches (20 cm)
Scent [2]  The flowers have a delicate refreshing scent.
Seed Spread Rate [1]  Slow
Seed Vigor [1]  Medium
Seeds Per [1]  96000 / lb (211644 / kg)
Shape/Orientation [1]  Irregular
Structure [2]  Shrub
Flower Color [1]  White
Foliage Color [1]  Yellow
Fruit Color [1]  Brown
Height [2]  30 inches (0.75 m)
Width [2]  39 inches (1 m)
Hardiness Zone Minimum [1]  USDA Zone: 4 Low Temperature: -30 F° (-34.4 C°) → -20 F° (-28.9 C°)
Light Preference [3]  Mostly Sunny
Soil Acidity [3]  Mostly Acid
Soil Fertility [3]  Infertile
Soil Moisture [3]  Damp
Water Use [1]  High
Screening - Summer [1]  Porous
Screening - Winter [1]  Porous
View Plants For A Future Record : Chamaedaphne calyculata

Protected Areas

Predators

Providers

Consumers

Pollinator of 
Ilex mucronata (catberry)[6]
Maianthemum trifolium (threeleaf false lily of the valley)[6]
Salix fragilis (crack willow)[6]

External References

USDA Plant Profile

NatureServe Explorer

Citations

Attributes / relations provided by
♦ 1USDA Plants Database, U. S. Department of Agriculture
♦ 2Plants For A Future licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License
♦ 3Ellenberg, H., Weber, H.E., Dull, R., Wirth, V., Werner, W., Paulissen, D. (1991) Zeigerwerte von Pflanzen in Mitteleuropa. Scripta Geobotanica 18, 1–248
♦ 4HOSTS - a Database of the World's Lepidopteran Hostplants Gaden S. Robinson, Phillip R. Ackery, Ian J. Kitching, George W. Beccaloni AND Luis M. Hernández
♦ 5Ben-Dov, Y., Miller, D.R. & Gibson, G.A.P. ScaleNet 4 November 2009
♦ 6Small, E. 1976. Insect pollinators of the Mer Bleue peat bog of Ottawa. Canadian Field Naturalist 90:22-28.
♦ 7Jorrit H. Poelen, James D. Simons and Chris J. Mungall. (2014). Global Biotic Interactions: An open infrastructure to share and analyze species-interaction datasets. Ecological Informatics.
Abstract provided by DBpedia licensed under a Creative Commons License
Species taxanomy provided by GBIF Secretariat (2022). GBIF Backbone Taxonomy. Checklist dataset https://doi.org/10.15468/39omei accessed via GBIF.org on 2023-06-13; License: CC BY 4.0