''Chamaedaphne calyculata'', known commonly as leatherleaf or cassandra, is a perennial dwarf

shrub A shrub (often also called a bush) is a small-to-medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from tree ...

in the plant family

Ericaceae The Ericaceae are a family of flowering plants, commonly known as the heath or heather family, found most commonly in acidic and infertile growing conditions. The family is large, with c.4250 known species spread across 124 genera, making it ...

and the only species in the genus ''Chamaedaphne''. It is commonly seen in cold, acidic bogs and forms large, spreading colonies.

Description

''Chamaedaphne calyculata'' is a low-growing, upright dwarf

up to 1.5 m tall. The

leaves A leaf ( : leaves) is any of the principal appendages of a vascular plant stem, usually borne laterally aboveground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", while the leaves, ...

are alternately arranged on the branch and elliptical to oblong shaped, 1–4 cm long and 0.5-1.5 cm wide. The leaves are thick and leathery, dull green above with minute, silvery scales, and paler green or brownish beneath. The margins of the leaves are entire or slightly and irregularly toothed, with short petioles. The plant is

evergreen In botany, an evergreen is a plant which has foliage that remains green and functional through more than one growing season. This also pertains to plants that retain their foliage only in warm climates, and contrasts with deciduous plants, which ...

but leaves often turn red-brown in winter. The lower stems extend into sphagnum, peat moss, or other substrate, and may persist even after fire or mild drought. The plant flowers in April to June, and is insect-pollinated. Flowers are small (5–6 mm long), white, and bell-like, produced in terminal

raceme A raceme ( or ) or racemoid is an unbranched, indeterminate type of inflorescence bearing flowers having short floral stalks along the shoots that bear the flowers. The oldest flowers grow close to the base and new flowers are produced as the ...

s up to 12 cm long, with flowers emerging from the axils (between leaf and stem) of small leaves on the raceme. The flowers have fused petals with 5 short lobes. The fruit is a capsule, a dry fruit that splits open to release seeds.

Etymology

The name ''Chamaedaphne'' is said to be derived from the

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

word ''chamae'' for "on the ground," and ''daphne,'' meaning "laurel." In ancient Greek ''chamai'' (χαμαί) expresses "on the ground".Liddell, H.G. & Scott, R. (1940). ''A Greek-English Lexicon. Revised and augmented throughout by Sir Henry Stuart Jones with the assistance of Roderick McKenzie.''Oxford: Clarendon Press. The common name refers to its tough, leather-like leaf.

Habitat

''Chamaedaphne calyculata'' has a circumboreal distribution throughout the cool temperate and subarctic regions of the

Northern Hemisphere The Northern Hemisphere is the half of Earth that is north of the Equator. For other planets in the Solar System, north is defined as being in the same celestial hemisphere relative to the invariable plane of the solar system as Earth's N ...

from eastern North America to bogs in Finland and Japan. The species site is mostly restricted to bogs, but also occur in shrubby fens, rock crevices, and pool margins. Leatherleaf naturally forms large

clonal colonies A clonal colony or genet is a group of genetically identical individuals, such as plants, fungi, or bacteria, that have grown in a given location, all originating vegetatively, not sexually, from a single ancestor. In plants, an individual in ...

, but is very shade-intolerant. Nutrients are low in bogs due to low mineralization, and plants can only acquire nutrients from atmospheric sources.

Uses

Leatherleaf is used as a food plant by the

larva A larva (; plural larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle. ...

e of some

Lepidoptera Lepidoptera ( ) is an order (biology), order of insects that includes butterfly, butterflies and moths (both are called lepidopterans). About 180,000 species of the Lepidoptera are described, in 126 Family (biology), families and 46 Taxonomic r ...

species including '' Coleophora ledi''. In ornamental usage, leatherleaf is widely used by florists as a filler green in bouquets and arrangements. Ethnobotanically, the plant has usage as "sun-tea," a drink in which dried or fresh leaves are steeped in cool water in a sunny location. This technique is used to avoid boiling it as a traditional infusion, which carries the danger of releasing andromedotoxin, a common toxin present in plants of the family

. Leatherleaf also has limited medicinal use among some Native American tribes as a poultice of leaves for inflammation.http://wildadirondacks.org/adirondack-shrubs-leatherleaf-chamaedaphne-calyculata.html Adirondack Shrubs: Leatherleaf

References

External links

Flora of China: ''Chamaedaphne''Leather LeafLeatherleafChamaedaphne calyculata 'Verdant'Leatherleaf (Chamaedaphne calyculata)
{{Taxonbar, from1=Q3502448, from2=Q1857489 Vaccinioideae Monotypic Ericaceae genera Flora of North America