Phyllodoce Empetriformis, Pink Mountain-Heath
Plants > Wildflowers > Ericaceae > Phyllodoce Empetriformis
Common name:
Pink mountain-heath
Family:
Scientific name:
Phyllodoce empetriformis
Main flower color:
Range:
The Pacific Northwest, the northern Rocky Mountans, and a small part of north Arizona
Height:
Up to 16 inches
Habitat:
Moist, open hillsides, from 5,000 to 11,500 feet
Leaves:
Narrow, dark green, linear, up to 0.6 inches long
Season:
June to August
Phyllodoce empetriformis is a low-growing, mat-forming shrub with small, clustered, evergreen leaves, which are grooved underneath and may be finely toothed along the margins. Leaves are angled upwards, above the plane. Leaf surfaces are hairless. Stems grow at various angles, from vertically upwards to prostrate, and they branch freely.
The inflorescence is an open cluster (a corymb), of up to 14 flowers, attached by glandular red stalks up to one inch long, each subtended by two small bracts. The bell-shaped flowers are formed of five small, red, ovate sepals beneath five larger, overlapping pink petals, which do not constrict towards the top; instead the lobes are bent backwards. The petals are not glandular. The ten stamens are contained within the flower, while the style protrudes slightly. The purple anthers are more than twice as long as the filaments.
The inflorescence is an open cluster (a corymb), of up to 14 flowers, attached by glandular red stalks up to one inch long, each subtended by two small bracts. The bell-shaped flowers are formed of five small, red, ovate sepals beneath five larger, overlapping pink petals, which do not constrict towards the top; instead the lobes are bent backwards. The petals are not glandular. The ten stamens are contained within the flower, while the style protrudes slightly. The purple anthers are more than twice as long as the filaments.
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