Cassiope tetragona (L.) D. Don

vernacular white arctic mountain heather — species · Ericaceae

USDA: CATE11
GBIF: 5333401
Rank: species

white arctic mountain heather (Cassiope tetragona) — Platephotograph · Paul SokoloffCC BY-NC-SA source · iNaturalist ↗

§2Habit & range

Growth habit: Shrub, Subshrub
Duration: Perennial
Group: Dicot
Family: Ericaceae Juss.
Genus: Cassiope

§2a

Native status, by region

AK Alaska Native
CAN Canada Native
GL Greenland Native
L48 Lower 48 States Native

§2b

County-level range

· 2 counties across 1 state

Legend Native · 2 Introduced · 0 Both · 0 Hover a county for detail.

§3Cultivation specs · USDA

Recorded by the USDA Plant Materials Program.

§3a

Tolerances

Drought: Medium
Shade: High
Moisture use: Medium
Fire: Low
Salinity: None
Anaerobic: Low
CaCO₃: Low
Hedging: None

§3b

Climate & soil

Cold tolerance: -43 °F minimum
Frost-free days: 75 min.
Precipitation: 20–60 in/yr
pH range: 5–7
Root depth: 14 in min.
Fertility need: Low
Soil texture: coarse, medium

§3c

Form & growth

Growth form: Single Crown
Growth rate: Slow
Lifespan: Long
Mature height: 0.4 ft
Foliage texture: Coarse
Foliage colour: Green
Porosity (summer): Dense
Porosity (winter): Dense
Flower colour: White
Fruit colour: Brown
Fire resistant: No
N fixation: None
Toxicity: None

§3d

Reproduction

Bloom period: Late Spring
Seed abundance: Medium
Seed begins: Summer
Seed ends: Summer
Spread rate: Slow
Stratify: Yes
Propagation: seed, bare root, container

§3e

Use & availability

Commercial availability: No Known Source
Nursery stock: No
Browse palatability: Low
Palatable, human: No
Protein potential: Low
Lumber: No
Christmas tree: No

§4Counties, by state

Recorded in 2 counties across 1 state.

Montana view state ↗ 2 N ▾

§5Sources & provenance

USDA PLANTS

Symbol, taxonomy, distribution, cultivation specs, native status. Public domain.

plants.usda.gov/CATE11 ↗

GBIF Backbone

Canonical taxonomic identity, synonym resolution, cross-refs. CC0.

gbif.org/species/5333401 ↗

Record version

Cached and built locally. Source version on this record:

usda-plants-mt-2026-05-25

fetched 2026-05-25T18:27:19Z