Gaultheria hispidula, commonly known as the Creeping Snowberry or Moxie-Plum, is a spreading ground-level vine of the heath family Ericaceae

Ericaceae

The Ericaceae, commonly known as the heath or heather family, is a group of mostly calcifuge flowering plants. The family is large, with roughly 4000 species spread across 126 genera, making it the 14th most speciose family of flowering plants...

 native to North America that produces small white edible berries. It fruits from August to September. Its leaves and berries taste and smell like wintergreen

Wintergreen

Wintergreen is a group of plants. Wintergreen once commonly referred to plants that continue photosynthesis throughout the winter...

.

Description

Gaultheria hispidula is an evergreen prostrate shrub

Prostrate shrub

A prostrate shrub is a woody plant, most of the branches of which lie upon or just under the ground, rather than being held erect as are the branches of most trees and shrubs....

 which forms a mat of stems and leaves which can reach 1 m (3 ft) in diameter and only 10 cm (4 in) high. The small leaves, which are under 1 cm long, are arranged alternately along the stems. The pale green-white flowers are seen in spring, followed by the white berries in August and September. The fruit is edible and acid-tasting.

Habitat and ecology

Gaultheria hispidula grows in acidic and neutral soils in open woodland and forest verges, particularly on wet ground such as in or on the edge of bog

Bog

A bog, quagmire or mire is a wetland that accumulates acidic peat, a deposit of dead plant material—often mosses or, in Arctic climates, lichens....

s, often near tree stumps. It is pollinated by solitary bees, bumblebee

Bumblebee

A bumble bee is any member of the bee genus Bombus, in the family Apidae. There are over 250 known species, existing primarily in the Northern Hemisphere although they are common in New Zealand and in the Australian state of Tasmania.Bumble bees are social insects that are characterised by black...

s, bee-flies

Bombyliidae

Bombyliidae is a large family of flies with hundreds of genera, although their life cycles are not well known. Adults generally feed on nectar and pollen, thus are pollinators of flowers. They superficially resemble bees, thus are commonly called bee flies, and this may offer the adults some...

 and hoverflies

Hoverfly

Hoverflies, sometimes called flower flies or syrphid flies, make up the insect family Syrphidae. As their common name suggests, they are often seen hovering or nectaring at flowers; the adults of many species feed mainly on nectar and pollen, while the larvae eat a wide range of foods...

, while chipmunk

Chipmunk

Chipmunks are small striped squirrels native to North America and Asia. They are usually classed either as a single genus with three subgenera, or as three genera.-Etymology and taxonomy:...

s and deer mice

Peromyscus

The genus Peromyscus contains the animal species commonly referred to as deer mice. This is a genus of New World mouse only distantly related to the common house mouse and laboratory mouse, Mus musculus...

 spread the seed.

Conservation status

Its original range spread from far northern Canada to as far south as North Carolina, but it has been extirpated from the southerly portions of its original range. Like most plant

Plant

Plants are living organisms belonging to the kingdom Plantae. Precise definitions of the kingdom vary, but as the term is used here, plants include familiar organisms such as trees, flowers, herbs, bushes, grasses, vines, ferns, mosses, and green algae. The group is also called green plants or...

s in North America, deforestation and competition with invasive ornamentals (especially shade-loving groundcovers, such as English ivy

Hedera helix

Hedera helix is a species of ivy native to most of Europe and western Asia. It is labeled as an invasive species in a number of areas where it has been introduced.-Description:...

 or winter creeper

Euonymus fortunei

Euonymus fortunei, also commonly known as winter creeper or wintercreeper and Fortune's spindle is a species of Euonymus native to east Asia, including China, Korea, Philippines and Japan....

 commonly sold at garden centers) probably hurts the creeping snowberry significantly. As a result, it has been extirpated from some of its original range and classified as rare in several states. Despite this, its international status has been evaluated as secure. This is because it is still quite common in its more northerly range of greater Canada. However, deforestation and exotic invasion

Invasive species

"Invasive species", or invasive exotics, is a nomenclature term and categorization phrase used for flora and fauna, and for specific restoration-preservation processes in native habitats, with several definitions....

are continuing problems that affect all forest species in both Canada and the United States.