Gaultheria nummularioides D. Don

This species is variable in the shape and size of its leaves and in its indumentum.

Shrubs prostrate, small, many branched. Twigs terete, wiry, densely brown hirsute. Leaves dense; petiole ca. 1 mm; leaf blade broadly ovate or suborbicular, sometimes ovate or elliptic, 5–10(–18) × 3–9(–16) mm, papery or leathery, abaxially densely or sparsely setiferous, usually pale, sometimes red punctate, adaxially glabrous, secondary veins 2 or 3 pairs, secondary and fine veins slightly raised abaxially, inconspicuous adaxially, base obtuse, truncate, rounded, or subcordate, rarely cuneate, margin denticulate-setulose, apex acute, distinctly mucronate. Flowers solitary, axillary. Pedicel ca. 1 mm; bracts ovate-triangular, ca. 1.5 mm; bracteoles 2–4, persistent, stramineous, larger than bracts, carinate, ca. 3 mm, glabrous. Calyx glabrous; lobes ovate, ca. 3 mm, apex shortly acuminate. Corolla white, pink, or crimson, campanulate, ca. 5 mm, abaxially glabrous; lobes often erect, ca. 1 mm, triangular. Filaments spindle-shaped, ca. 1.5 mm, villous, papillate; anthers ca. 1.5 mm, thecae 2-awned. Ovary glabrous. Calyx at fruiting blue-purple or black; capsule globose, 6–7(–9) mm in diam., glabrous. Fl. Jul–Oct, fr. Mar–Dec. 2n = 44.

Himalaya (Garhwal to Bhutan), S. Tibet, Assam, N. Burma.

WC Sichuan, SE Xizang, N and SE Yunnan [Bangladesh, Bhutan, NE India (Darjiling), Indonesia (Java, Sumatra), Myanmar, Nepal, Sikkim].

2100-4100 m

Abies, Picea, Pinus, and Tsuga forests, often on rocks, rarely epiphytic on trees; 1000–2000(–3400) m.