Plantae > Tracheophyta > Magnoliopsida > Ericales > Ericaceae > Gaultheria > Gaultheria procumbens

Gaultheria procumbens (eastern teaberry)

Synonyms:

Wikipedia Abstract

Gaultheria procumbens, also called the eastern teaberry, the checkerberry, the boxberry, or the American wintergreen, is a species of Gaultheria native to northeastern North America from Newfoundland west to southeastern Manitoba, and south to Alabama. It is a member of the Ericaceae (heath family).
View Wikipedia Record: Gaultheria procumbens

Attributes

Allergen Potential [1]  Low
Screening - Summer [2]  Dense
Screening - Winter [2]  Dense
Bloom Period [2]  Spring
Drought Tolerance [2]  High
Edible [3]  May be edible. See the Plants For A Future link below for details.
Fire Tolerance [2]  High
Flower Type [3]  Hermaphrodite
Frost Free Days [2]  4 months
Fruit/Seed Abundance [2]  Low
Fruit/Seed Begin [2]  Summer
Fruit/Seed End [2]  Fall
Growth Form [2]  Stoloniferous
Growth Period [2]  Spring, Summer, Fall
Growth Rate [2]  Slow
Hazards [3]  The pure distilled essential oil is toxic in large doses;
Leaf Type [3]  Evergreen
Lifespan [2]  Perennial
Pollinators [3]  Insects, Lepidoptera
Propagation [2]  Bare Root, Container, Cutting, Seed
Root Depth [2]  12 inches (30 cm)
Scent [3]  All parts of the plant are aromatic, the bruised leaves having the scent of wintergreen.
Seed Spread Rate [2]  Slow
Seed Vigor [2]  Low
Seeds Per [2]  3854992 / lb (8498810 / kg)
Shape/Orientation [2]  Prostrate
Structure [3]  Shrub
Usage [3]  An essential oil is obtained from the leaves by steam distillation; In order to obtain the oil, the leaves need to be steeped for 12 - 24 hours in water; The essential oil is used as a food flavouring, medicinally (the original source of Wintergreen oil used as a liniment for aching muscles) and in perfumery and toothpastes. In large doses it can be toxic; A good ground-cover plant for shady positions though it requires weeding for the first year or so; Forming a dense tuft-like carpet, it roots as it spreads and should be spaced about 45cm apart each way;
Vegetative Spread Rate [2]  Moderate
Flower Color [2]  White
Foliage Color [2]  Dark Green
Fruit Color [2]  Red
Fall Conspicuous [2]  Yes
Flower Conspicuous [2]  Yes
Fruit Conspicuous [2]  Yes
Height [3]  6 inches (0.15 m)
Width [3]  39 inches (1 m)
Hardiness Zone Minimum [2]  USDA Zone: 3 Low Temperature: -40 F° (-40 C°) → -30 F° (-34.4 C°)
Light Preference [2]  Mostly Shady
Soil Acidity [2]  Mostly Acid
Soil Fertility [2]  Infertile
Water Use [2]  Low
View Plants For A Future Record : Gaultheria procumbens

Protected Areas

Predators

Sylvilagus obscurus (Appalachian Cottontail)[4]

Consumers

Mutual (symbiont) 
Oidiodendron majus[5]

External References

USDA Plant Profile

NatureServe Explorer

Citations

Attributes / relations provided by
♦ 1Derived from Allergy-Free Gardening OPALS™, Thomas Leo Ogren (2000)
♦ 2USDA Plants Database, U. S. Department of Agriculture
♦ 3Plants For A Future licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License
♦ 4"Survival and Winter Diet of Sylvilagus obscurus (Appalachian Cottontail) at Dolly Sods, West Virginia", Alana C. Hartman1 and Ronald E. Barry, Northeastern Naturalist 17(3):505-516. 2010
♦ 5Jorrit 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