Classification
Class
Magnoliopsida Brongn.
Order
Ericales Bercht. & J.Presl
Family
Ericaceae
Genus
Gaultheria Kalm ex L.
 Subordinate Taxa
 Nomenclature
Scientific Name:
Gaultheria depressa Hook.f. (1847)
Synonymy:
  • = Gaultheria antipoda var. depressa Hook.f., Bot. Antarct. Voy. II. (Fl. Nov.-Zel.) Part I, 161 (1853)
Vernacular Name(s):
Snowberry
 Description

Mat-forming shrublet, usually < 10 cm tall; stems much-branched, ± interlacing, creeping and rooting; branchlets ± setose. Lvs alternate; petioles very short. Lamina usually 3–12 × 3–9 mm, elliptic, broadly elliptic to orbicular (the different forms sometimes all present on one plant), coriaceous; margins crenate to crenulate, sometimes entire, setose or glabrous; base cuneate to rounded; apex rounded, mucronulate or ± acute. Fls solitary in axils of uppermost lvs, subsessile; bracteoles 1–1.5 mm long, very broadly ovate. Calyx lobes 1.5–2 mm long, ovate-triangular, acute or subacute. Corolla ± urceolate; tube 1.5–2 mm long; lobes ± ovate, obtuse. Fr. 8–12 mm diam.; fruiting calyx fleshy, white, pink or red.

[From: Webb et al. (1988) Flora of New Zealand. Volume 4.]

 Biostatus
Indigenous (Non-endemic)
Number of subspecific taxa in New Zealand within Gaultheria depressa Hook.f.
CategoryNumber
Indigenous (Endemic)1
Indigenous (Non-endemic)1
Total2
 Phenology

Flowering: Nov.–Feb.

 Bibliography
Franklin, D.A. 1962: The Ericaceae in New Zealand (Gaultheria and Pernettya). Transactions of the Royal Society of New Zealand. Botany 1: 155–173.
Hooker, J.D. 1852–1853 ("1853"): The Botany of the Antarctic Voyage of H.M. Discovery Ships Erebus and Terror in the Years 1839–1843, under the command of Captain Sir James Clark Ross. II. Flora Novae-Zelandiae. Part I. Flowering plants. Lovell Reeve, London.