Gaultheria colensoi Hook.f.
Shrub to 1 m high, usually erect, sometimes almost sprawling; branchlets puberulent. Lvs alternate, rather uniform, stiff, very thick and coriaceous; petioles to c. 1 mm long. Lamina c. 8-12 × 5-9 mm, elliptic, broadly elliptic to orbicular; margins crenulate to subentire; base broadly cuneate to rounded; apex usually rounded, sometimes apiculate. Fls in terminal and occasionally subterminal racemes to c. 4 cm long; pedicels glabrous or glabrate, to c. 5 mm long; bracteoles 1.5-2 mm long, ovate, acute to acuminate. Calyx lobes 1.5-2 mm long, ovate-triangular, acute or subacute. Corolla urceolate; tube c. 2.5 mm long; lobes shortly triangular. Capsules c. 3 mm diam., invested by dry calyx.
N.: from c. 38° southwards.
Endemic.
Montane to alpine shrubland, rocky places and grassland.
FL Nov-Jan.
