Pipsissewa (Chimaphila umbellata) is a low evergreen of dry, acidic woods, with glossy toothed leaves and waxy pink-white flowers. Older mountain people called it ratsbane, and other books list it as prince's pine. It earns a place for year-round foliage and quiet summer bloom. Difficulty: hard. It depends on soil fungi and usually fails when moved, so most gardeners do better protecting it where it already grows.
Sowing and planting
Start with honesty: this is one of the hardest natives to establish. Pipsissewa is tied to mycorrhizae, the soil fungi that link with plant roots and trade water and nutrients. Its roots are sparse, and it draws part of its food through that fungal network, which also connects to nearby trees. Lift the plant and you break the network. That is why dug plants usually sulk for a season or two and then die.
Seed is not a practical route at home. The seed is as fine as dust and carries almost no stored food. It germinates only when the right fungus is present, and the seedling lives underground for a long time before leaves appear. No reliable home method exists, so skip seed packets that promise otherwise.
Your realistic options, best first:
- Conserve an existing patch. If pipsissewa already grows on your land, that is the garden. Protect it and leave it alone.
- Buy nursery-propagated plants. A few native plant nurseries raise it from cuttings or divisions of their own stock. Ask the seller directly how the plants were produced. "Nursery-grown" can mean wild plants held in a pot, which is not the same thing.
Never dig pipsissewa from the wild. Wild plants almost always die after moving, and the species is rare or protected in some states. Buy only nursery-propagated stock, and do not use any part of the plant as a home remedy.
If you do find propagated plants, plant in early spring or early fall, while the soil is cool and moist. Choose a spot that matches its wild home: under established pines or oaks, in acidic soil that drains fast. A site where moss, blueberries or mountain laurel already thrive is a good sign.
Disturb the soil as little as you can. Do not till, and do not add lime, compost-rich garden soil or fertilizer. Open a hole just large enough for the pot. Slide the root ball out whole and set it at the same depth it grew. Firm gently, water once to settle, and cover the surface with 1 to 2 inches (2.5 to 5 cm) of pine needles or oak leaf litter. Keep the mulch off the stems.
Growing on
Water during dry spells in the first year, giving about 1 inch (2.5 cm) a week when rain fails. Use rainwater if your tap water is hard, because alkaline water slowly raises soil pH. After the first year, a well-sited plant needs little extra water.
Do not feed it. Fertilizer favors competing plants and can upset the fungal partnership the roots rely on. The yearly fall of needles and leaves from the trees overhead is all the feeding it needs.
There is no pruning, staking or dividing to do. Hand-pull weeds while they are small, holding the soil down with your other hand. Keep foot traffic, mowers and leaf blowers away from the patch. Heavy raking strips the litter layer that keeps the roots cool.
Expect slow progress. A plant that holds its leaves through the first two winters and sends up a new shoot nearby has probably linked with the soil fungi. Flowers usually follow in early to midsummer, nodding in small clusters above the leaf whorls.
Harvesting
This is a plant to look at, not to pick. It grows slowly, and each stem carries only a few whorls of leaves, so any picking sets a patch back for years.
The folk history is worth knowing all the same. In southern Appalachia, mountain families knew the plant as ratsbane, or "ratsvein" in local speech. Anthony Cavender's Folk Medicine in Southern Appalachia records teas of the leaves and roots being used for kidney and bladder complaints and as a blood "purifier". It was also added to homemade cough syrups and given in hot teas meant to bring on a sweat during fevers. These are historical records only. This article is not medical advice, and nothing here is a reason to pick or use the plant.
If you want something to take home, take photographs. The dry, brown seed capsules stand all winter and are worth a close look too. Leave them on the plant so the seed can drift on the wind.
Problems and pests
A new plant yellows and fades over one or two seasons
This is the usual fate of transplants that never connect with the right fungi. There is no cure. Do not replace it again and again in the same spot. Put the effort into protecting wild patches instead.
Leaves turn pale or growth stalls in garden soil
The soil is likely too rich, too heavy or not acidic enough. Stop any feeding or liming nearby. Restore a mulch of pine needles or oak leaves, and check that water drains away within minutes.
Stems blacken at the base
Poor drainage or overwatering rots the crown. Water only when the top inch (2.5 cm) of soil is dry. On clay, this plant is not worth attempting.
A patch shrinks or is smothered
Fallen branches, thick wet leaf mats, vines and invasive groundcovers bury these tiny plants. Clear them gently by hand. Avoid sudden changes overhead too, since removing the tree canopy scorches the leaves.
Leaves bitten or plants uprooted
Deer and rabbits rarely do much harm to the leathery leaves. Most damage comes from trampling, pets and digging. Mark the patch with a few stakes or a low border of branches.
Varieties worth growing
There are no named garden cultivars of pipsissewa. What you will find, if anything, are the species itself and its close relatives:
- Common pipsissewa, Chimaphila umbellata. The plant described here, with plain glossy green leaves. It grows across cool northern woods, and several regional forms are recognized by botanists.
- Striped wintergreen, Chimaphila maculata. A close relative, also called spotted wintergreen. Its dark leaves carry a white stripe along the midrib, and its flowers are white. It is common in Appalachian oak and pine woods, yet rare and protected toward the northern edge of its range. It is just as difficult to move.
- Shinleafs, Pyrola species. Related woodland evergreens with the same dependence on soil fungi. Treat them the same way: enjoy them in place.
For evergreen groundcover in acidic shade that you can actually grow, consider wintergreen, also called teaberry (Gaultheria procumbens). It belongs to the same family, but it is a different plant, and nurseries propagate it widely.