Publication: Edinburgh New Philos. J. 17: 158. 1834.

Origin: Native

Herbarium search: CPNWH

Notes: FNA8: "Subspecies cristapilosa was based on a collection from the Queen Charlotte Islands, British Columbia. The only distinction that the authors drew between it and subsp. lycopodioides was that subsp. cristapilosa has one to three crisped apical hairs on the leaves. Their claim that subsp. lycopodioides has entirely glabrous leaves is not supported. All specimens of Cassiope lycopodioides that I have seen have curled hairs on the leaf apices of at least the young leaves. The hairs appear to be fugacious. However, subsp. cristapilosa does differ from subsp. lycopodioides in several features. It lacks the hyaline leaf margin as well as the adaxial surface and abaxial leaf base pubescence. In addition, the stems are thicker, and the pedicels and corollas are longer. This insular material warrants further investigation."

Last updated 6/28/2020 by David Giblin.