Erect shrub (0.3-)1-2.5(-4) m tall;  fresh stems, leaves, and fruits with strong odor of wintergreen when crushed;  mature stems terete, + smooth, glabrous or deciduously strigose, dark brick-red when fresh;  bark thin, grayish, exfoliating in thin strips;  twigs subterete, often ribbed or complanate, striate, often bright red when fresh, provided with scattered, minute (ca. 0.2 mm long), dark red or black, glandular-tipped setae, or white puberulent and also strigose with stiff, straight, appressed, basally swollen, eglandular, stramineous hairs to 2 mm long;  buds ovate, slightly flattened, scales numerous, striate, surface glabrous but densely ciliate.  Leaves coriaceous, nitid, obovate to obovate-elliptic, (2.5-)3.5-5(-9) x (1.5-)2.5-3.5(-5.5) cm, base broadly to narrowly cuneate, attenuate and decurrent onto petiole (or rounded but still attenuate), apex rounded to obtuse (emarginate), apex itself bluntly callose-mucronate, margin bluntly serrate with each tooth terminating in a short (ca. 0.1 mm long), gland-tipped hair, both surfaces superficially glabrous but bearing along the veins (especially densely beneath) glandular setae like those of twigs, these often deciduous and then leaving dark-colored punctae (also weakly strigose as on twigs along nerves beneath and then glabrate);  midrib and lateral nerves (3-4 per side) plane to slightly impressed but not conspicuous above, raised and conspicuous beneath, reticulate veinlets plane, slightly impressed or slightly raised but inconspicuous above, raised and very conspicuous beneath;  petiole subterete, rugose, flattened (puberulent above) glandular-setose as on twigs beneath (strigose beneath), 2.5-5(-8) mm long. Inflorescences clustered at branch tips, axillary, racemose, (10-)15-20-flowered;  rachis subterete, ribbed and bluntly angled, (3-)5-7(-8.5) cm long, surrounded at base by a series of ca. 10-12, imbricate, ovate to elliptic, obtuse, striate, glabrous, ciliate bracts to 6 mm long, densely white puberulent and also scattered or densely glandular-setose as on twigs, also densely strigose with straight to crisped hairs as on twigs but to 1 mm long;  pedicels subterete, 7-10 mm long, puberulent and glandular-setose as on twigs (strigose as on rachis); bracteoles nearly basal, membranous, linear-ovate, often aristate, or obovate, (2-)3.5-4.5 x 0.5-1.2(-2) mm, ciliolate, glabrous or often short-pilose within or glandular-setose without as on twigs;  floral bract usually deciduous by anthesis, membranous, ovate to elliptic-ovate, 4-7 x 2-5 mm, ciliate, acute to obtuse, often short-pilose distally within or glandular-setose without as on twigs.  Flowers conspicuously nodding at anthesis;  calyx 3.5-4.5 mm long, lobes ovate, (2-)3-4 x 1.5-2 mm, acute, densely ciliate, usually glabrous without (glandular-setose, or strigose), densely short-pilose distally within;  corolla urceolate to cylindric-urceolate, bluntly 5-angled, 4-6(-8) x 3.5-5 mm, glabrous (strigose along angles), white when fresh, lobes ovate, ca. 1 mm long, obtuse; stamens 3.2-4.5 mm long;  filaments 2.3-3 mm long, sparsely to densely short-pilose;  anthers 1.3-1.4 mm long, awns conspicuous;  ovary densely short-pilose;  style 3-3.5(-5) mm long, glabrous.  Fruiting calyx 6-8 mm diam., glabrous (or strigose), blue-black.

     Distribution (Map).  Venezuela and NE Colombia.  A shrub of ecologically "drier" sites (often with bracken fern), usually it is found in the open habitats of rocky, disturbed hillsides, thickets, subpáramo, dry ridges, on poor sandy soil, rarely in elfin forest at elevations of 950-3050 m.  Flowering and fruiting occur throughout the year.
 

                 Key to the Varieties of Gaultheria alnifolia

1.  Stems, leaves, and inflorescences not strigose;  bracteoles
     linear-ovate, often aristate;  corolla 4-6 mm long; widespread in
    Venezuela at 1000-3050 m .........................................  var. alnifolia
1.  Stems, leaves, and inflorescences strigose;  bracteoles
     obovate;  corolla 7-8 mm long;  Colombia (Norte de Santander) at
     950-1087 m...................................................................  var. grata
 

Gaultheria alnifolia (Dunal) A. C. Smith var. alnifolia.  Image:  Habit.

Gaultheria lindeniana Planchon, Fl. des Serres I, 5: 501, pl. 255.  1849. Brossea lindeniana (Planchon) O. Kuntze, Rev. gen. pl. 2: 388.   1891.  Type.  Venezuela.  Federal District:  Silla de Caracas, 1830-2130 m, 1842 (fl), Linden 36 (holotype, P, photo F neg. 38261;  isotypes, BM, G, K, OXF, P, W).

     Stems, petioles, leaves beneath, rachis, pedicels, calyx, and corolla without strigose hairs;  stems also without white puberulence.  Bracteoles linear-ovate, often aristate, 3.5-4.5 x 0.5-1.2 mm.  Corolla 4-6 mm long, glabrous without;  stamens 3.2-3.5 mm long;  filaments 2.3-2.5 mm long;  style 3-3.5 mm long.  Fruiting calyx glabrous.

     Distribution (Map).  Nearly endemic to Venezuela where it is common in the Coastal Cordillera, scattered in the Andes, and rare in the eastern tepuis of Edo. Bolívar at elevations of 1000-3050 m;  one collection is known from adjacent Colombia at 950-1087 m.

     Common names and uses.  Venezuela:  pejua (Anzoátegui);  pesgua (Distrito Federal);  albricias, laurel del pequeño (Mérida);  pijoa (Monagas);  pejoa (Sucre);  laurel (Táchira).  The plant is used for colds in Edo. Anzoátegui where the leaves are placed in boiling sugar-water and then the infusion drunk.
 

Gaultheria alnifolia (Dunal) A. C. Smith var. grata (A. C. Smith) Luteyn, Brittonia 41: 15.  1989.  Gaultheria grata A. C. Smith, Contr. U.S. Natl. Herb. 29: 343.  1950.  Type.  Colombia.  Norte de Santander: Cordillera Oriental, region of Sarare, between Miranda and Alto de La Aurora, valley of the Río Margua, Quebrada del Sararito, 950-1087 m, 23 Nov 1941 (fl, fr), Cuatrecasas 13404 (holotype, US, photo NY neg. 12068;  isotypes, A, COL, F, photo NY neg. 11916).

     Stems, petioles, leaves beneath, rachis, pedicels, calyx, and corolla strigose with stiff, straight, appressed, basally swollen, eglandular, stramineous hairs 1-2 mm long;  stems also white puberulent.  Bracteoles obovate, ca. 2 x 2 mm.  Corolla 7-8 mm long, strigose along angles without;  stamens ca. 4.5 mm long;  filaments ca. 3 mm long;  style ca. 5 mm long.  Fruiting calyx weakly strigose.

     Distribution (Map).  Known only from the type collection.  Rare and endangered.