I was wondering if you could figure out if there is a
difference between Gaultheria mucronata and Pernettya mucronata. Are they
the same plant that had a name change? Are they different? I had thought
that P. mucronata had both male and female plants–could you confirm that?
Here is the Pernettya mucronata listing, and here is the Gaultheria mucronata listing, both from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Taxonomy
database, showing that the two names are synonyms.
The University of British Columbia Botanical Garden online forum offers
the following information:
“Often known as pernettya, and less commonly as prickly heath, for many
years this plant was placed in the genus Pernettya. This lasted until it
was recognized that all members of the genus Pernettya were genetically
indistinguishable from Gaultheria. As I mentioned in a previous entry,
modern taxonomy suggests that nomenclature should reflect evolutionary
relationships, so the names of all Pernettya species were changed in
accordance with the evidence, and transferred to Gaultheria.”
Just to make things still more complicated, there is also x Gaulnettya.
There are both male and female plants. See Plants for A Future’s page about this plant.
Additional information from a local gardener’s web site.