| Author | L. | |
| Distribution | Nearly throughout the Mountains, being limited to middle and especially higher elevations.
This is a widespread North American species, from coast to coast, ranging in the east south to PA and northern IL, and then south through the Appalachians to southwestern NC and adjacent TN. | |
| Abundance | Fairly common above 5000 feet, and uncommon down to about 4000 feet; perhaps absent from Cherokee County and Alleghany County owing to insufficiently high elevations. | |
| Habitat | This is a species of cool and somewhat damp places, most frequent in spruce-fir forests, or hardwoods mixed with spruce. It can also occur in seepages in forests and near waterfalls and other damp places such as cliff faces with seepage. |
| Phenology | Blooms from June to September, and fruits shortly after flowering. | |
| Identification | This is a quite low-growing herb that barely reaches 6-8 inches tall, when in bloom. It has a slender unbranched stem with a few (often just 2) pairs of opposite leaves, each leaf on a moderate petiole and a blade that is widely ovate, with obvious teeth, barely 1.5-2 inches long and 2/3rds as wide. These pairs are at right angles to ones above or below them, and from above the plant almost looks like it has a whorl of leaves. In this species, the leaf base is cordate; in C. lutetiana, the larger leaves have a truncate base. A small raceme of flowers grows from the top of the stem, and one or two upper leaf axils, each with about 5-12 very small white flowers scattered along the stem. Each flower in this genus has only 2 petals, and the flower is barely 1/6-inch across, hardly visible from a standing position! You won't need the flowers for identification, as the several pairs of widely ovate leaves with cordate bases and broad teeth, on a stem barely 6 inches high, should be enough. | |
| Taxonomic Comments | It should be little surprise that this species would have subspecies or varieties. The taxon present in NC is the nominate subspecies -- ssp. alpina.
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| Other Common Name(s) | Alpine Enchanter's-nightshade, Dwarf Enchanter's-nightshade | |
| State Rank | S3 | |
| Global Rank | G5 | |
| State Status | | |
| US Status | | |
| USACE-agcp | FACW link |
| USACE-emp | FACW link |
