Gaultheria
Sp. Pl. 1: 395. 1753.
Gen. Pl. ed. 5, 187. 1754 ,.
Shrubs or subshrubs, (sometimes rhizomatous or stoloniferous and rooting at nodes). Stems erect or procumbent; twigs glabrous or hairy. Leaves persistent, aromatic; blade ovate, elliptic, or orbiculate to subcordate or reniform, coriaceous, margins serrate, crenate, or ciliate, plane or revolute, surfaces glabrous or hairy; venation reticulodromous or brochidodromous. Inflorescences axillary, racemes, 2–12-flowered, sometimes flowers solitary; (bracteoles closely subtending flowers). Flowers: sepals (4–)5, connate basally to nearly their entire lengths, (sometimes exceeding petals), ovate, deltate, or cordate; petals (4–)5, connate ca. 1/2 to nearly their entire lengths, white or cream to pink, corolla urceolate to campanulate, lobes much shorter than tube; stamens 8 or 10, included, (inserted at base of ovary); filaments straight, flattened, usually widest proximally, glabrous or hairy, sometimes papillose, without spurs; anthers with 2–4 awns or without awns, dehiscent by pores with ventral slits, (white disintegration tissue present dorsally along connective); pistil 4–5-carpellate; ovary 5-locular; stigma truncate or capitate. Fruits capsular, 5-valved, globose, fleshy, (surrounded by persistent, fleshy calyx). Seeds 20–80+, ovoid; testa smooth. x = 11, 12, 13.
Distribution
North America, Mexico, West Indies (Hispaniola, Windward Islands), Central America, South America, e Asia, Pacific Islands (New Zealand), Australia (including Tasmania), mostly temperate or montane in tropical latitudes.
Discussion
Species ca. 115 (6 in the flora).
Gaultheria is characterized by its fruit and by the stamens having flattened filaments and awned anthers. All of the species are woody to varying degrees; the growth form varies from erect or spreading shrubs to procumbent or creeping and mat-forming. Eastern Asia and the Andes mountains of South America are centers of diversity for this genus.
In North America, the fruits and leaves of Gaultheria are a food source for wildlife, and native peoples have medicinal and food uses for some species. Oil of wintergreen (methyl salicylate) is found in the leaves and fruits of some species.
Selected References
None.
Lower Taxa
Key
| 1 | Erect or creeping shrubs; inflorescences racemes | > 2 |
| 1 | Creeping or spreading shrubs or subshrubs; inflorescences solitary flowers or with 2-3 flowers per node | > 3 |
| 2 | Leaf blades 1.5-3.5 cm; peduncles and pedicles sparsely hairy; sepals glabrous; fruits white. | Gaultheria pyroloides |
| 2 | Leaf blades 4-8+ cm; peduncles and pedicels densely glandular-hairy; sepals glandular-hairy (hairs reddish); fruits black-purple. | Gaultheria shallon |
| 3 | Plants creeping, mat-forming, roots adventitious or fibrous; stems repent, usually densely strigose or hirtellous, sometimes glabrous | > 4 |
| 3 | Plants creeping or spreading, not mat-forming, adventitious roots absent; stems decumbent, branches ascending to erect, lanate, often glabrescent | > 5 |
| 4 | Stems densely strigose; leaf blades 0.3-1 cm; flowers 4-merous; anthers with 2 bifurcating awns; fruits white. | Gaultheria hispidula |
| 4 | Stems usually hirtellous, sometimes glabrous; leaf blades 1-2.5 cm; flowers 5-merous; anthers without awns; fruits red. | Gaultheria humifusa |
| 5 | Leaf blades ovate to subcordate; bracteoles 1-3 pairs; petals 3-4 mm; filaments glabrous, base with rounded, auriclelike projections; anthers without awns; w North America. | Gaultheria ovatifolia |
| 5 | Leaf blades obovate to oval or orbiculate; bracteoles absent; petals 8-10 mm; filaments lanate-tomentose, base slightly widened; anthers with 2 awns; e North America. | Gaultheria procumbens |