Cassiope tetragona

Taxobox | name = "Cassiope tetragona"


image_width = 260px
regnum = Plantae
divisio = Magnoliophyta
classis = Magnoliopsida
ordo = Ericales
familia = Ericaceae
genus = "Cassiope"
species = "C. tetragona"
binomial = "Cassiope tetragona"
binomial_authority = 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.

ee also

*Flora of Svalbard