Wildflower of the valley
Creeping Snowberry, East wintergreen, Checkberry, Himalayan snowberry.
Gaultheria trichophylla
- How easy to find
- Very rare — you need to search for it — local knowledge helps
- Flower size
- Small
- Family
- Ericaceae (Heath family)
- Local name
- Bher, Bhui kaphal, Bhuinala, Jheri
- Height
- small
- Flower colour
- red,blue
- Flowering
- June to September
About Creeping Snowberry, East wintergreen, Checkberry, Himalayan snowberry.
Gaultheria trichophylla is prostrate shrublet with slender, wiry stems. Leaves are tiny. Flowers are pinkish white and solitary in axils of leaves. Corolla bell shaped up. Fruit are very attractive and flesy, shiny, florescent blue.
Where to find it
- Near the entrance of the valley
- In the middle of the valley
- In the deeper parts of the valley
Habitat
Among rocks, on tree stumps, thickets of alpine areas.
Uses & folklore
Fruits are edible.
What the name means
Gaultheria honours Jean-François Gaulthier, an 18th-century Quebec physician-botanist; trichophylla means "hair-leaved".
