New regulated plant under P. ramorum quarantine

Photo by John Delano of Hammond, Indiana, courtesy of Wikimedia commons.

The APHIS Plants for Planting Manual has been updated, 12/2013-24, to add Gaultheria procumbens to the list of those plant species that are regulated to prevent the spread and dissemination of Phytophthora ramorum. Federal Order DA-2013-41. Seeds are not included.

Gaultheria procumbens is known as American wintergreen, boxberry, eastern teaberry, and checkerberry, and is native to northeastern North America from Newfoundland west to southeastern Manitoba, and south to Alabama. It is a low-growing shrub, typically reaching 10–15 centimeters (3.9–5.9 in) tall. The leaves are evergreen, elliptic to ovate, 2–5 cm long and 1–2 cm broad, with a distinct oil of wintergreen scent. The flowers are bell-shaped, 5 mm long, white, borne solitary or in short racemes.