Gaultheria procumbens
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Photo, Renee Brecht |
Britton & Brown |
| Botanical name: | Gaultheria procumbens |
| Common name: | teaberry, wintergreen |
| Group: | dicot |
| Family: | Ericaceae |
| Growth type: | sub-shrub; shrub |
| Duration: | perennial |
| Origin: | native |
| Plant height: | forms a low growing evergreen mat, 2-5" |
| Foliage: | evergreen, of wintergreen; oval, obscurely toothed |
| Flower: | small white flowers, hanging below leaves, bell shaped with 5 teeth |
| Flowering time: | bloom late June to August; fruits late September to October, fruits persisting |
| Habitat: | dry, acid, sterile ground of oak and conifer woods |
| Range in New Jersey: | statewide, most abundant in the Pine Barrens and the Kittattiny Mountains |
| Heritage ranking, if any: | n/a |
| Distribution: |  |
| Misc. | Berries edible, a former source of commercial wintergreen.
According to Stone in 1910, the berries were gathered and sold by the native "Pineys". (620) |