I found this growing in small patches under Douglas fir trees. The plants are about 4-8 inches high. Leaves about 2-3 inches long, lanceolate (narrower near the central stem) with serrated edges with a pointy tip. Single central vein. Leathery. Shiny underneath. Looks to be whorled leaf arrangement. The brown flowerhead cluster (4-6 seed pods) is about 3 inches above the plant on a single stalk and when crushed is fine light brown powder. It has a woody stem. Some leaves had old round notches on the outer edges (eaten by something). Right now the central stalk has a whitish green bud about to open from the middle of the leaves. It's not Daphne laureolus.
If you have looked this up, you will know how beautiful it is in bloom . . . I hope you'll have a chance to see it in person.
Yes, I plan to go back where I found it! Can't wait. It looks like it might be a good fit for a shady spot in our native plant garden too! I like experimenting with starting from seed.
Pippsissewa would be lovely in a shady spot IF you could provide a source of the mycorrhizal fungus it requires to survive. Of course you shouldn't dig it up from the wild but wherever you do acquire it, you have to take enough of the surrounding soil to ensure the correct fungus comes along. Even then . . . A friend of mine on the Sunshine Coast gave me a bagful of Chimaphila umbellata from her property where a road was to be built. I potted it all up and it looked fine for about a year and then, slowly, died.
Good reminder about the fungus! I have a nice spot with huckleberries, trillium, wild ginger, bleeding heart and similar species and a rotten Doug fir stump we brought in. I'll have to see if any of the seed even germinate. I brought 3 seed heads home today to see if there are seeds in them or just the light tan powder. Quite a few of them still had dried seed heads on them in one particular area. Not sure if that is a good sign or not as other areas had just a few seed heads!
