KEY TO IMPORTANT WOODY PLANTS 169 



2. Plants not producing berrylike cones as above; shrubs heath- 

 or heatherlike, matted or clumped, to 2 feet high; flowers bell- or 

 urn-shaped, 4- or 5-lobed, stalked, in somewhat umbrellalike 

 end clusters; stamens 8-10; anthers opening by end pores; seed 

 pods (capsules) 4- or 5-celled, globe- or egg-shaped; subalpine 



or alpine bogs or wet meadows mountain heaths, cassiope. 



5. Leaves fir- or heathlike, alternate, to about y<i inch long, 

 crowded near ends of branches, stiffly ascending or spreading, 

 jointed to erect "leafstalks" grown fast to twig; midrib 

 prominent on under surface, paralleled by 2 grooves lined 

 with glands and stomata; margins rolled under; seed pods 

 splitting down from top along partitions between cells. 



mountainheaths (Phyllodoce spp.) 40 

 6. Flowers bell-shaped, reddish; calyx lobes % as long as corolla ; 

 flowers and flower stalks nearly hairless, or with a few 

 gland-tipped hairs; leaves glandular-hairy only on margins 

 or along edges of midrib; straggly shrubs; Cascades, 

 Wallowa and Blue Mts., Oreg., Wash. 



red mountainheath (Phyllodoce empetriformis). 

 6. Flowers urn-shaped, yellowish; calyx lobes % as long as 

 corolla; flowers densely glandular-hairy as are also flower 

 stalks; leaves glandular-hairy on both sides as well as along 

 margins; bushy shrubs; Cascades, Oreg., Wash.: Wallowa 

 Mts., ne. Oreg. 



cream mountainheath (Phyllodoce glanduliflora). 

 5. Leaves scale- or heatherlike, opposite, to V4 inch long, 4- 

 ranked, overlapping, erect or ascending; flowers white, bell- 

 shaped, few; stamens with pair of recurved awns at anther 

 tips; seed pods splitting down middle-back of each cell; 

 Cascades, Oreg., Wash.; Wallowa Mts., ne. Oreg. 



Mertens cassiope (Cassiope mertensiana) . 

 1. Leaves not scale-, awl-, or needlelike. 

 7. Leaves simple. [Alternate 7, p. 202.] 



8. Leaves opposite or whorled (3 or more at a joint). [Alternate 

 8, p. 177.] 



9. Leaf margins spiny-toothed (hollylike), leaves broadest 

 above middle, wedge-shaped at base, thick and leathery, 

 to \)i inches long and % inch wide, shiny green on upper 

 surface, whitish between veins on under surface; stipule 

 bases swollen, somewhat corky, persistent ; flowers blue, 

 fading lavender, stalked, in small, somewhat umbrellalike 

 clusters; seed pods (capsules) globe-shaped, borne in 

 cup-shaped disks, 3-celled, each cell prominently horned 

 and also wrinkled, ridged or crested near tip; prostrate 

 shrubs with rigid branches to 6 inches high and dark, 

 creeping stems often rooting in contact with soil but not 

 crown-sprouting after fire or cutting, forming mats to 10 



40 Red and cream mountainheaths sometimes crossbreed where their ranges 

 overlap, producing hybrids with characteristics variously intermediate between 

 those of the two parents (see W. H. Camp, Phyllodoce Hybrid*. The New Flora 

 and Silva 12: 207-211. Aug. 194Cb. For descriptions, illustrations, and discus- 

 sion of leaf structure, see Herbert F. Copeland, .1 Study, Anatomical and Taxo- 

 nomic, of (he Genera of Rhododendroideae. Amer. Midi. Nat. 30: 533-627. Nov. 

 1943, and also Fred Stoker. The Genua Phi/llodoce. The New Flora and Silva 

 12: 30-42. Nov. 1939. 



