Cassiope tetragona
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Cassiope tetragona | ||||||||||||||
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Cassiope tetragona D.Don |
Cassiope tetragona (common names include Arctic bell-heather, white arctic mountain heather and Arctic white heather) is a plant native to the high Arctic and northern Norway, where it is found widely.
Growing to 10–20 cm in height, it is a strongly-branched dwarf shrub. The leaves are grooved, evergreen, and scale-like in 4 rows. Pedicels are long and arched. The plant bears bell-shaped, solitary flowers usually with white and pink lobes and pink anthers. The flower stalks and sepals are red, but the petals may also be yellowish-white. The anthers can also be brownish-yellow and flower stalks and sepals yellowish-green.
It grows on ridges and heaths, often in abundance and forming a distinctive and attractive plant community.
In Greenland, the plant is important as fuel.