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October 2, 2008 : Elliottia pyroliflora
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Plant Family / Families: Ericaceae
Scientific Name and Author: Elliottia pyroliflorus (Bong.) S.W. Brim & P.F. Stevens
Name Location: near Picture Lake Bog, Mt. Baker area, Washington, USA
A western North American native, Elliottia pyroliflora is found from northwest Oregon north to Alaska. In British Columbia, it is most commonly found in western BC, but small populations can be found in the eastern part of the province. This photograph was taken in western Washington by Tanja Schuster, who was visiting the area as part of Botany 2008 in July (Tanja is a member of the Kron lab at Wake Forest University in North Carolina). You can see another of Tanja's photographs on the submissions page for the Conant "Botanical Images" Student Travel Award Submissions. Thank you, Tanja!
Commonly known as copperbush, Elliottia pyroliflora grows in subalpine boreal and cool mesothermal climates (mesothermal simply means temperate or moderate heat as well as moderate cold). Boreal forests are a biome or climatically-defined area with mostly coniferous forests. It is a deciduous woody shrub growing to a maximum of 2 meters tall. The common name copperbush is derived from it typically having loose, shredding copper-coloured bark. The solitary flowers of this species resemble that of Pyrola, the genus discussed in yesterday's write up, hence the specific epithet pyroliflora. This species was originally classified as Cladothamnus pyroliflorus but was later moved to the genus Elliottia (most references still use the synonym).
Posted by Daniel Mosquin at October 2, 2008 12:00 AM
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Comments
Posted by: MikeC at October 2, 2008 4:26 AM
Nice two-day juxtaposition of plants. And I appreciated the definition of mesothermal - a climate I have no experience with living here in New England.
Posted by: deb lievens at October 2, 2008 5:01 AM
Thanks for the posting! I don't mean to quibble, but I believe the correct name is Elliottia pyroliflora (Bong.) Brim & P.F. Stevens
Posted by: Tanja at October 2, 2008 7:31 AM
Indeed, IPNI lists it as E. pyroliflora - J. Arnold Arbor. 59: 336. 1978
Posted by: Clinton Morse at October 2, 2008 10:33 AM
I'm curious how these plants are pollinated due to shapes plus directions of pistil and stamens! Answers please someone. Thank you.
Posted by: Dee at October 2, 2008 7:54 PM
I believe the commenters are correct. The specific epithet should be pyroliflora. I made the changes in the text and title.
Posted by: Eric La Fountaine 
at October 3, 2008 10:09 AM
Please share your comments about the photograph(s) and accompanying write-up. Telling a story about the subject of the photograph(s) is also much appreciated! If you have a gardening question, the best place to ask is on the UBC Botanical Garden Forums. Thank you!
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Botany Photo of the Day is a project of the UBC Botanical Garden and Centre for Plant Research, located in Vancouver, British Columbia Canada. UBC BGCPR is a department of the Faculty of Land and Food Systems within The University of British Columbia.
Interesting that it's been moved to Elliottia. I wonder if anyone's tried crossing it with the Southeastern US native, Elliottia racemiflora?