| DESCRIPTION: It is a low, creeping, deciduous, mostly herbaceous subshrub reaching 5-20 cm in height. It has rhizomes that ramble across the forest floor, whorls of 4-7 leaves and white to pink inflorescence the appearance of a single flower. USE: The fruit is edible fresh or cooked, it can be used for jellies and pies and has a pleasant though not very strong flavour. It is grown as an ornamental groundcover because of its showy flowers and fruits and attractive autumn colouring. GROWING PERIOD: Perennial. COMMON NAMES: Canadian bunchberry, Bunchberry, Bunchberry dogwood, Dwarf dogwood. FURTHER INF: It is a mesophytic species found in bogs, moist and dry forests, and wetlands. It is considered to be indicative of very moist sites. It prefer moist, well drained, cool soils and may not survive summer soil temperatures above 18°C. It does well on the drier edges of the bog garden, but it strongly dislikes chalky soils. It can be found in both wetlands and upland soils and tolerates poorly drained soils. It is a {{mesophytic}} species indicating moist forest types. It can grow in both organic and medium textured mineral soils but are most common on soils relatively low in organic matter (2-5.5%). It grows from Greenland and Labrador west to Alaska and south into northern North America and spontaneous further south in mountain regions. Also found in Northeast Asia. |
