Cassiope tetragona

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Cassiope tetragona

Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Division: Magnoliophyta
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Ericales
Family: Ericaceae
Genus: Cassiope
Species: C. tetragona
Binomial name
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.

[edit] See also

Arctic Bell-heather
Arctic Bell-heather
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