Gaultheria hispida
{{Short description|Species of flowering plant}}
{{speciesbox
|image = Gaultheria hispida.JPG
|image_caption = Gaultheria hispida, Tasman Peninsula, Tasmania
|genus = Gaultheria
|species = hispida
|authority = R.Br.
}}
Gaultheria hispida, commonly known as the copperleaf snowberry, is an endemic eudicot of Tasmania, Australia. It is an erect multi-branched shrub, that can be found in wet forests and alpine woodlands. Its berries appear snowy white and leaves are tipped with a copper tinge, hence the common name.{{Cite book|title=Tasmania's Natural Flora|author1=Howells, Christine|author2= Whiting, Jenny |author3=Roberts, Ricky|author4= Reeves, Frank |author5= Verity, Tayler|publisher=Australian Plants Society Tasmania Inc., Hobart Group|year=2012|isbn=9780909830663|location=Hobart TAS|pages=167}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.utas.edu.au/dicotkey/dicotkey/EPACRIDS/sGaultheria_hispida.htm|title=Gaultheria hispida (Ericaceae) 2:417|last=Jordan|first=Greg|date=2017|website=Key to Tasmanian Diocots|access-date=28 February 2018}}
Description
File:Gaultheria hispida.flowers.jpg
Gaultheria hispida is a small, erect multi-branched shrub in the family Ericaceae. G. hispida can grow up to {{cvt|2|m}} in a protected site, such as a forest, but will be smaller in more exposed alpine sites. Its leaves grow to be {{convert|4|–|9|cm|in|abbr=on}} long and appear dark green and glossy with depressed veins and finely serrated leaf margins, tinged copper. Stems are usually red with terminal clusters of small white, urn-shaped flowers at its apex. The plant flowers in Spring through Summer followed by distinctive snowy white sepals enclosing reddish capsules or "fruit" in Autumn.
It is considered to be highly representative of the family Ericaceae for its phylogenetic significance.{{Cite web|url=https://www.naturalvaluesatlas.tas.gov.au/|title=Species Gaultheria hispida (89-00666)|date=2012|website=Natural Values Atlas|publisher=Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment|access-date=20 February 2018}}
Cultivation
G. hispida can be easily propagated from cuttings or seeds, making it a favourable garden plant. They are best suited to a constantly moist, well-drained site, with loamy and or fertile soils.{{Cite web|url=http://www.understorey-network.org.au/municipalities/understorey_hobart.pdf|title=Hobart Plant Species List|last=|first=|date=2007|website=Understorey network.org|publisher=Natural Resource Management Tasmania, Understory Network|access-date=20 February 2018}}
Habitat and distribution
File:G. hispida distribution in Tasmania.jpg
The genus Gaultheria is found across Australia, New Zealand, Asia, and North and South America. The plant is found exclusively in Tasmania and some parts of Victoria.{{Cite book|title=Name that flower : the identification of flowering plants|last=Ian.|first=Clarke|date=1987|publisher=Melbourne University Press|others=Lee, Helen.|isbn=978-0522843354|location=Carlton, Victoria, Australia|oclc=17511745}} The species is considered endangered within Victoria and of conservation significance in Tasmania but is neither threatened nor uncommon.{{Cite web|url=https://vicflora.rbg.vic.gov.au/flora/taxon/60ac89b0-f0aa-476d-825d-fb59a32cd64f|title=Flora of Victoria|website=vicflora.rbg.vic.gov.au|language=en|access-date=2018-02-28}} G. hispida is most abundant in cool, moist, mountain or alpine areas, between {{convert|250|–|1100|m|in|abbr=on}}.
Its distribution is most abundant in the western side of Tasmania, (to the west of Tylers line), on ancient fold province soils, where wet forests and alpine vegetation dominate. Other patches of distribution, to the east of Tyler's line, are predominantly alpine areas, in the northeast, southeast, and central north, on younger fault province soils.
Tasmania's unique geological history of repeated glaciation has enabled many species to expand their geographic range. This glaciation caused the contraction and expansions of alpine zones, thereby dispersing species beyond their initial alpine habitats. Many species then continued to persist in these areas, as is the case with G. hispida.{{Cite book|title=Tasmanian native bush : a management handbook|date=1991|publisher=Tasmanian Environment Centre|others=Kirkpatrick, J. B. (James Barrie), Pharo, E. J.|isbn=978-0909160098|location=Hobart, Tas.|oclc=26756373}}
Other suitable habitats for G. hispida in Tasmania include rainforest, wet eucalypt forest and montane vegetation.
Uses
The fruit of G. hispida are edible and have bitter taste. They were commonly collected by Tasmanian Aboriginal People as bushfood and were eaten by early settlers.{{Cite book|title=Wild food plants of Australia|last=Low |first=Tim|date=1991|publisher=Angus of Robertson|isbn=978-0207169304|edition=Rev.|location=North Ryde NSW, Australia|oclc=25220546}} Other members of the genus Gaultheria have been used to make teas and jellies, and even claimed to have natural anti-inflammatory properties.{{Cite journal|last1=Zhang|first1=Dan|last2=Liu|first2=Rui|last3=Sun|first3=Lan|last4=Huang|first4=Chao|last5=Wang|first5=Chao|last6=Zhang|first6=Dong-Ming|last7=Zhang|first7=Tian-Tai|last8=Du|first8=Guan-Hua|date=2011-05-09|title=Anti-Inflammatory Activity of Methyl Salicylate Glycosides Isolated from Gaultheria yunnanensis (Franch.) Rehder|journal=Molecules|volume=16|issue=5|pages=3875–3884|doi=10.3390/molecules16053875|pmid=21555977|pmc=6263312|doi-access=free}}
See also
Gallery
Gaultheria hispida.fruit.jpg|Fruit
Alpine forest - near Cradle Mountain - Flickr - brewbooks.jpg|Alpine vegetation in Cradle Mountain National park, where G. hispida is found