Andromeda polifolia : Bog Rosemary

Scientific Name:

Kingdom: Plantae

Division:

• Tracheophyta (vascular)
• Spermatophyta (seed bearing)
Angiospermae (enclosed seed)

Class: Dicoteldonae (two seed-leaves)

Family: Ericaceae (Heath Family)

Genera: Andromeda (Bog Rosemary) (from Greek mythology.)

Species: polifolia (Gr. polios=gray + folium= leaf )

English Name(s):

Bog Rosemary,

First Nation Names:

Structure:

• Low shrub, 5-15cm high with prostrate base and ascending branches.

Leaves:

• Simple (not compound or lobed).
• 1-4 cm long by 2-6 mm wide.
• Linear-lanceolate to oblong in shape.
• Deeply groved on upper surface; Lower surface glaucous (gray waxy).
• Evergreen, alternate, and thick.
• Margins strongly involute (rolled under).
• Prominent midvein.

Reproductive Parts:

• Flowers perfect (bisexual) and regular (symetrical).
• Stamens (male parts) 10 much shorter than the corolla (petal) tube.
• Pedicels (flower stalks), red, 5-20mm long, bending while in flower and becoming erect when in fruit.
• Flowers 2-6 in small clusters at top of branches.
• Flowers bell-shaped, petals united, 5-7mm long, 5-lobed, pinkish.
• Ovary with 5 locules (chambers).

Seed:

• Fruit a nearly spherical dry capsule of 5-6 mm diameter.

Not to Be Confused With:

Physiology:

Life Cycle:

• Perennial.

Seasonal Cycle:

• Blooms in the spring and has gone to seed by mid-July.
• Leaves are evergreen.
• Plant produces leafy shoots with flower buds in one growing season. The next growing season the flower buds bloom and produce seeds by the fall. Thus requiring 2 seasons to complete the cycle of bud to mature fruit.

Animal Uses:

Habitat:

• Wet sites such as bogs, muskeg, wet tundra and moist meadows.

Modern:

Industrial:

Medicinal:

Food:

Traditional Gwich'in:

Folklore:

Industrial:

Medicinal:

Food:

Traditional Other:

Folklore:

Industrial:

Medicinal:

Food: