Creeping snowberry

Description

Gaultheria hispidula, commonly known as the creeping snowberry or moxie-plum, is a perennial spreading ground-level vine of the heath family Ericaceae. It is native to North America and produces small white edible berries. It fruits from August to September. Its leaves and berries taste and smell like wintergreen. Gaultheria hispidula is an evergreen prostrate shrub that forms a mat of stems and leaves that can reach 1 m (3.3 ft) in diameter and only 10 cm (3.9 in) high.The small leaves, which are under 1 cm (0.39 in) 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 white with small darker-colored hair-like growths. The fruit is edible and has an acidic taste. 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 bogs, often near tree stumps. 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.