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| ## Leatherleaf {#leatherleaf .Title-Header}                           |
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| *Chamaedaphne calyculata* (L.) Moench                                 |
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| Plant Symbol = CHCA2                                                  |
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####### *Contributed By: USDA, NRCS, National Plant Data Center & the Biota of North America Program*

![](media/image2.jpeg){width="2.5972222222222223in" height="3.9in"}

## Alternate common name

Cassandra

## Uses

Leatherleaf reclaimed large areas in raised bogs in the eastern United
States that had been denuded by commercial peat removal. The species is
used for nesting and cover by wildlife, including mallards and ruffed
grouse. It is a part of browse for sharp-tailed grouse, white-tailed
deer, caribou, and moose.

## Status

Please consult the PLANTS Web site and your State Department of Natural
Resources for this plant's current status, such as, state noxious status
and wetland indicator values.

## Description

*General:* Heath family (Ericaceae). Native perennial, evergreen shrubs
0.3-1.5 meters tall, the stems covered with tiny brownish scales. Leaves
are alternate, oblong to elliptic, 1.5-5 cm long, finely toothed, the
lower surface covered with tiny brownish scales, becoming smaller and
positioned to the upper side of the stem towards the branch tips. The
flowers are white, urn-shaped, 6-7 mm long, hanging and arising from one
side of the terminal inflorescence, solitary in the axils of the small
leaves. Fruits are depressed-globose, woody, gray-brown capsules,
persisting through the winter. Common name is in reference to the tough,
evergreen leaf.

*Variation within the species*: several varieties have been recognized
within leatherleaf in North America, based primarily on differences in
leaf size and shape (see Fernald 1950). These taxa are currently
regarded as within the limits of continuous variation of the species and
are not formally recognized.

*Distribution:* Circumboreal; northern North America from Alaska and
Yukon and all of Canada (except Franklin) to the easternmost provinces,
in the US in the Great Lake states and the Northeast, disjunct and rare
in Maryland, North Carolina, and South Carolina.

## Adaptation 

Leatherleaf occurs in practically all boreal bogs as well as in swamps,
lake and stream margins, sedge fens and meadows, black spruce muskegs,
and vernal ponds and shrub swamps in pine barrens, usually growing on
wet, strongly acidic sphagnum mats over water. It may form thickets as a
dominant species in shrub associations in some bogs. It is found at
elevations up to 1600 meters. Flowering: April-June from buds formed the
previous season; fruiting: June-January.

## Establishment

Leatherleaf reproduces by seed and vegetatively by rhizomes. Seed set is
usually high (50-95%) when the flowers are open-pollinated but low
(1-15%) when flowers are self-fertilized. After cold stratification to
break dormancy, the seeds germinate on sphagnum or sedge mats. Moist
sphagnum surrounding leatherleaf shoots, roots, and rhizomes causes
vigorous vegetative growth.

Leatherleaf is the first shrub to enter a bog after sphagnum is
established and it is a primary species in extending the bog mat. It
remains characteristic of the mature and late stages of moss/low
ericaceous shrub communities as open water disappears and may remain
dominant for 50 years in some communities. Leatherleaf is shade
intolerant and begins to thin as tall shrubs or bog forest species such
as tamarack (*Larix laricina*) and/or black spruce (*Picea mariana*)
establish.

Persistence of leatherleaf in bogs over long periods has been attributed
to its regeneration following recurrent fire, which is a primary factor
in maintaining early successional stages in these communities.
Leatherleaf may show a strong increase in stem density following spring
burning and may be only slightly injured by summer or autumn fires.
Leatherleaf probably survives severe fires because rhizomes are deep in
water-saturated substrates and its root crowns and stems are matted in
debris.

Division is the most successful method of propagation for leatherleaf.
Plants may be divided in early fall, planting each rooted clump as a new
shrub. Transplanting in summer or autumn stimulated shoot production
more than spring transplanting. The ends of shoots also may be bent down
to the soil and layered. Young plants should be partially shaded.

## Management

Leatherleaf greatly increases following clearcutting. Although
leatherleaf and other shrubs can suppress black spruce on medium to poor
sites, restocking and regeneration of trees may not affected by shrub
density after harvest on other sites. Stocking rates were about the same
on burned and unburned cut-over black spruce sites in northern
Minnesota.

When used for rehabilitation or revegetation, natural growth of
leatherleaf can be aided by transplants of sphagnum mats containing live
plants.

## Cultivars, Improved and Selected Materials (and area of origin)

Contact your local Natural Resources Conservation Service (formerly Soil
Conservation Service) office for more information. Look in the phone
book under "United States Government." The Natural Resources
Conservation Service will be listed under the subheading "Department of
Agriculture."

## References

Fernald, M.L. 1945. *Chamaedaphne calyculata* (L.) Moench, var.
*latifolia* (Ait.) comb. nov. Rhodora 47:390-391.

Fernald, M.L. 1950. *Gray's manual of botany*. Ed. 8. American Book Co.,
New York, New York.

Luteyn, J.L. 1996. Ericaceae of the southeastern United States. Castanea
61:101-144.

Pavek, D.S. 1993. *Chamaedaphne calyculata*. IN: W.C. Fischer
(compiler). *The fire effects information system* \[Data base\]. USDA,
Forest Service, Intermountain Research Station, Intermountain Fire
Sciences Laboratory, Missoula, Montana.
\<http://www.fs.fed.us/database/feis/\>

Reader, R.J. 1977. *Bog ericad flowers: self-compatibility and relative
attractiveness to bees*. Canadian J. Bot. 55:2279-2287.

## Prepared By

*Guy Nesom*

Formerly BONAP, North Carolina Botanical Garden, University of North
Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina

## Species Coordinator

*Lincoln Moore*

USDA, NRCS, National Plant Data Center, Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Edited: 17jan01 jsp;10feb03 ahv; 05jun06 jsp

For more information about this and other plants, please contact your
local NRCS field office or Conservation District, and visit the PLANTS
Web site\<[http://plants.usda.gov](http://plants.usda.gov/)\> or the
Plant Materials Program Web site
\<[http://Plant-Materials.nrcs.usda.gov](http://Plant-Materials.nrcs.usda.gov/)\>

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large print, audiotape, etc.) should contact USDA\'s [TARGET
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*To file a complaint of discrimination write USDA, Director, Office of
Civil Rights, Room 326-W, Whitten Building, 14th and Independence
Avenue, SW, Washington, DC 20250-9410 or call 202-720-5964 (voice or
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*Read about [Civil Rights at the Natural Resources Convervation
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