Canadian bunchberry

This small herbaceous plant, also named creeping dogwood, has a ligneous stem, meaning it has the texture of wood. Its tiny, greenish flowers grow in clusters at the top of the stem, forming a flower head (capitulum). These flowers are surrounded by four to six bracts—small, cream-white leaves that resemble petals. It is these distinctive bracts that gave the Canadian bunchberry its common French name, “quatre-temps,” which means literally “four times.”

This plant grows between 8 and 20 cm tall and often forms colonies through rhizomes—underground structures that produce both roots and stems.

The green leaves are simple and smooth-edged, with prominent veins. They have an ovate shape (egg-like). These leaves are semi-evergreen, meaning they sometimes remain visible through the snow cover.

The fruits of the bunchberry are fleshy drupes, each containing a single seed. They range in color from light red to bright red.