Cassiope tetragona
(L.) D.Don · speciesAt a glance
Sources10 archives
Databases and archives Cassiope tetragona's data was compiled from.
WikipediaWikimedia Foundation7 languages↗
BioWikiNetmultilingual Wikipediamultilingual↗
GBIFGlobal Biodiversity Information Facility10 034 records↗
ENAEuropean Nucleotide Archive · EMBL-EBI47 eDNA detections↗
BOLD SystemsCentre for Biodiversity Genomics48 specimens↗
NCBIUS National Library of Medicinesequences↗
GRIN TaxonomyUSDA-ARSdistribution & uses↗
Open Tree of LifeOpenTreephylogeny backbone↗
CCDBChromosome Counts DB · Tel Aviv U.genome & karyotype↗
GLoBIGlobal Biotic Interactionsbiotic interactions↗Every layer below draws on the sources above — open one to explore it, or use ← → to move between tabs.
Cassiope tetragona (common names include Arctic bell-heather, white Arctic mountain heather and Arctic white heather) is a plant native to the high Arctic and northern Norway, where it is found widely. Growing to 10–20 cm in height, it is a strongly branched dwarf shrub. The leaves are grooved, evergreen, and scale-like in four rows. Pedicels are long and arched. The plant bears bell-shaped, solitary flowers usually with white and pink lobes and pink anthers. The flower stalks and sepals are red, but the petals may also be yellowish-white. The anthers can also be brownish-yellow and flower stalks and sepals yellowish-green. Arctic bell-heather It grows on ridges and heaths, often in abundance and forming a distinctive and attractive plant community. In Greenland, indigenous peoples use the plant as important source of fuel. Because of high resin content, it burns even when wet.John 'Lofty' Wiseman SAS Survival Handbook, Revised Edition p. 72; William Morrow Paperbacks (2008) The plant can also be used in cooking. Canadian chef Louis Charest used arctic heather as a smoked herb for the 2016 Three Amigos Summit state dinner.
No narrative description available for this taxon yet.
Size & morphology5
Life cycle & reproduction27
Diet & foraging1
Habitat & environment26
Physiology & chemistry28
Uses & economy13
Other traits6
A DNA barcode is a short, standardised stretch of genes that works like a fingerprint — enough to tell one species from another. Below is the molecular trace Cassiope tetragona has left across the world's sequence archives.
At a glance
★ the standard DNA barcode for this group — the short region actually read to tell this species apart. The rest are extra genes sequenced along the way.
The complete instruction manual Cassiope tetragona carries — its genome. We read it from three angles — how big it is, how the DNA is packed into chromosomes, and how completely it has been sequenced — and explain how to read each value as you go.
Genome sizehow big the whole instruction manual is
Measured in base pairs (bp) — the individual letters of DNA (human ≈ 3.2 Gb, a bacterium a few million). The chart places this genome on a logarithmic scale — each step to the right is ten times bigger — among reference organisms. Across species a bigger genome loosely tracks with larger cells, slower growth and lower-energy lifestyles (powered flight favours small genomes) — yet it does not imply more genes or a more advanced organism (the long-standing C-value paradox).
Chromosomes & ploidyhow the DNA is packaged
2n is the full chromosome count in a normal body cell; n is a gamete (egg or sperm), which carries half. Ploidy is how many complete chromosome sets each cell holds — 2× (diploid) is typical for animals, while higher levels (polyploidy) are common in plants. Click any value below to see the underlying records and sources.
2n 2611×CCDB · ipcn-api-dl · CCDB · book-ipcn67-71 · CCDB · book-northern-plants +5
Sequencing statusassembly quality — how far to trust these numbers
Assembly level tells you how finished the sequence is — from fragmented contigs, through scaffolds, up to a full chromosome-level assembly. BUSCO % estimates completeness: the share of genes expected to be present that were actually found. These describe the data quality, not the organism.
How far back this lineage goes — and how we know. Everything here is measured in Ma, short for “mega-annum”: millions of years ago. The chart reads left to right like a calendar of the Earth, from the deep past on the left to today at the right edgetop to bottom like a core drilled through the Earth, from the deep past at the top down to today at the bottom.
At a glance
When this lineage existed
How to read this: the coloured strip along the bottomdown the left is the geological calendar — the standard epochs (Pliocene, Pleistocene…) every museum uses, shown so you can see which chapter of Earth's history this lineage lived in. This lineage is a young one, so the strip is zoomed in to epochs — the finer subdivisions inside a period. The orange marker is the DNA clock: DNA accumulates mutations at a roughly steady rate, so comparing this species' DNA with its relatives estimates when the lineage split off — independently of any fossil.
Record type10 034 records
Range
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
Museum / Voucheredphysical evidence
Backed by a physical specimen — a herbarium sheet, sample or voucher held in a collection. “Vouchered” means supported by material evidence, not just an observation.
Cultivated / Captivenot free-living
A living individual in a botanical garden, zoo or nursery — cultivated or kept, not free-living.
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
Holding institutions61 of 103 geolocated
Institutions and collections holding physical, vouchered specimens of this species — click a row to fly to it on the map.
| Institution | Specimens |
|---|---|
| Olocation not on record | 2 149 |
| TROMlocation not on record | 329 |
| Moscow State Universitylocation not on record | 173 |
| LDlocation not on record | 145 |
| Victoria, CA | 118 |
| Trondheim, NO | 116 |
| Museo civico La Terra e l'Uomo di Crocetta del Montellolocation not on record | 115 |
| Stockholm, SE | 84 |
| University of Stellenboschlocation not on record | 73 |
| Oskarshamn, SE | 58 |
| Québec, CA | 49 |
| Oulu, FI | 44 |
| Knoxville, US | 35 |
| Chongqing Museumlocation not on record | 35 |
| Kuopio, FI | 27 |
| St. Paul, US | 25 |
| IWEP FEB RASlocation not on record | 24 |
| Missoula, US | 17 |
| University of Alberta Museumslocation not on record | 17 |
| Anchorage, US | 15 |
| Yukon Universitylocation not on record | 15 |
| Montréal, CA | 15 |
| Acadia Universitylocation not on record | 15 |
| Montréal, CA | 15 |
| Madison, US | 14 |
| Claremont, US | 14 |
| Vancouver, CA | 10 |
| Uppsala, SE | 10 |
| Copenhagen, DK | 9 |
| Helsinki, FI | 9 |
| Canadian Museum of Naturelocation not on record | 9 |
| SLU Artdatabankenlocation not on record | 8 |
| Trois-Rivières, CA | 8 |
| GBS RAN - Glavny Botanichesky Sad Rossijskoj Akademii Nauklocation not on record | 8 |
| NMBU:MINAlocation not on record | 7 |
| Jyväskylä, FI | 7 |
| KMNlocation not on record | 6 |
| Kew, GB | 6 |
| WTUlocation not on record | 5 |
| Pullman, US | 5 |
| West Virginia Wesleyan Collegelocation not on record | 5 |
| Tromso University Museumlocation not on record | 5 |
| Paris, FR | 5 |
| Flagstaff, US | 5 |
| BRNUlocation not on record | 4 |
| Bergen, NO | 4 |
| TUR-Alocation not on record | 4 |
| Logan, US | 4 |
| Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznańlocation not on record | 4 |
| Edinburgh, GB | 4 |
| 中国极地研究中心location not on record | 4 |
| Bozeman, US | 4 |
| Tempe, US | 4 |
| Porvoo, FI | 4 |
| Finnish Museum of Natural Historylocation not on record | 3 |
| University of Lethbridgelocation not on record | 3 |
| MeiseBGlocation not on record | 3 |
| IB FRC Komi SC UB RASlocation not on record | 3 |
| Memorial University of Newfoundlandlocation not on record | 3 |
| Bronx, US | 3 |
| Philadelphia, US | 3 |
| University of Helsinkilocation not on record | 3 |
| Moscow, US | 3 |
| Whitehorse, CA | 2 |
| Fargo, US | 2 |
| Göteborg, SE | 2 |
| Wlocation not on record | 2 |
| Davis, US | 2 |
| Institute of the biological problems of the North FEB RASlocation not on record | 2 |
| Wellington, NZ | 2 |
| DOI/FWS, Kenai National Wildlife Refugelocation not on record | 2 |
| GINRlocation not on record | 2 |
| Toronto, CA | 2 |
| Metsähallituslocation not on record | 2 |
| Santa Barbara, US | 1 |
| Fullerton, US | 1 |
| Los Angeles, US | 1 |
| Görlitz, DE | 1 |
| Saint Louis, US | 1 |
| Cambridge, US | 1 |
| Natural History Museum Rotterdamlocation not on record | 1 |
| Millersville, US | 1 |
| Durango, US | 1 |
| DULlocation not on record | 1 |
| Dekalb, US | 1 |
| Philadelphia, US | 1 |
| Tartu, EE | 1 |
| MAlocation not on record | 1 |
| BioFokuslocation not on record | 1 |
| Durham, US | 1 |
| South Kensington, GB | 1 |
| New Brunswick, US | 1 |
| nbflocation not on record | 1 |
| University of British Columbia, Herbariumlocation not on record | 1 |
| Austin, US | 1 |
| EL PASO, US | 1 |
| US | 1 |
| Emporia, US | 1 |
| DOI/NPS, Mississippi National River & Recreation Arealocation not on record | 1 |
| Université Lavallocation not on record | 1 |
| Turku, FI | 1 |
| Rovaniemi, FI | 1 |
| San Diego, US | 1 |
Cultivated / Captivenot free-living
A living individual in a botanical garden, zoo or nursery — cultivated or kept, not free-living.
Where the DNA of Cassiope tetragona was picked up in samples of water, soil or air — nobody saw the organism, only its DNA left behind. A trace is a clue that the species was near, not a confirmed sighting.
Signal
Where its DNA was found
How strong is each trace?
Modelled climatemodelled
How to read this: each dot is one detection of this species' DNA in an environmental sample. The confidence meter weighs how many independent studies and places back up the signal — one detection in one study is a hint; many across several studies is solid. Records dated before 2008 (when eDNA methods began) are treated as likely mislabeled and left off the map.