Ericaceae FAMILY

Chimaphila maculata

Edibility

1/5

Medicinal

3/5

Safety & Hazards

None known

Botanical Description

Chimaphila maculata is a low-growing, spreading, evergreen shrub producing stems 10 - 20cm tall. The plant is sometimes harvested from the wild and used locally as a food and medicine. It is sometimes grown as an ornamental, where it can be used as a ground cover.

Habitat & Origin

Origintemperate; tropical

Native RangeEastern N. America - Michigan to Quebec, south to Louisiana and Florida; Arizona, Mexico, through C. America to Panama

HabitatRich woods[ 222 Title A Field Guide to Medicinal Plants. Eastern and Central N. America. Publication Author Foster. S. & Duke. J. A. Publisher Houghton Mifflin Co. Year 1990 ISBN 0395467225 Description A concise book dealing with almost 500 species. A line drawing of each plant is included plus colour photographs of about 100 species. Very good as a field guide, it only gives brief details about the plants medicinal properties. ]. Dry woods[ 235 Title An Illustrated Flora of the Northern United States and Canada Publication Author Britton. N. L. Brown. A. Publisher Dover Publications. New York. Year 1970 ISBN 0-486-22642-5 Description Reprint of a 1913 Flora, but still a very useful book. ]. Mostly in pine-oak forest at elevations of 1,300 - 2,500 metres in Guatemala[ 331 Title Flora of Guatemala Publication Author Standley P.C. & J. A. Steyermark Website http://www.archive.org/ Publisher Year 1946 - 1976 ISBN Description A superb reference, though somewhat dated. Gives lots of plant uses as well as information on plant habit and habitat. The entire flora (13 volumes) can now be downloaded from http://www.archive.org/ ].