Chimaphila umbellata
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| Chimaphila umbellata | ||||||||||||||
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| Chimaphila umbellata (L.) Barton |
Chimaphila umbellata (Umbellate Wintergreen, Pipsissewa, or Prince's pine) is a small perennial flowering plant found in dry woodlands, or sandy soils. It is native throughout the cool temperate Northern Hemisphere.
It grows 10-35 cm tall, and has evergreen shiny, bright green, toothed leaves arranged in opposite pairs or whorls of 3-4 along the stem. Leaves have a shallowly toothed margin, where the teeth have fine hairs at their ends. The flowers are white or pink, produced in a small umbel of 4-8 together.
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[edit] Ecology
Although it has green leaves year-round, it receives a significant portion of its nutrition from fungi in the soil (that is, it is a partial myco-heterotroph, which is not surprising as related plants, such as Pyrola, are partial or full myco-heterotrophs).[1]
[edit] Taxonomy
There are four subspecies:
- Chimaphila umbellata subsp. umbellata – Europe, Asia
- Chimaphila umbellata subsp. acuta – southwestern North America
- Chimaphila umbellata subsp. cisatlantica – northeastern North America
- Chimaphila umbellata subsp. occidentalis – northwestern North America
[edit] Uses
It is used as a flavoring in candy and soft drinks, particularly root beer.
"Pipsissewa" is a Cree name meaning "It-breaks-into-small-pieces". The name is also used for a character in the "Uncle Wiggly" books of Howard R. Garis.
[edit] References
- ^ Leho Tedersoo, Prune Pellet, Urmas Kõljalg and Marc-André Selosse (March, 2007). "Parallel evolutionary paths to mycoheterotrophy in understorey Ericaceae and Orchidaceae: ecological evidence for mixotrophy in Pyroleae". Oecologia 151 (2): 206–217. doi:.
