Riverside Retreat

Galax, the wandplant, wandflower, or beetleweed, is a genus in the flowering plant family Diapensiaceae, containing a single species, Galax urceolata. It is native to the southeastern United States from Massachusetts and New York south to northern Alabama, growing mainly in the Appalachian Mountains at altitudes of up to 1,500 m, where it grows in shaded places in forests. Galax urceolata can occur at multiple ploidy levels, an individual may be a diploid (2x), triploid (3x), or autotetraploid (4x) (autopolyploid). The cytotypes are neither morphologically nor geographically distinct, though there are slight climatic differences between the diploid and autotetraploid types. Outcrossing is likely to occur among cytotypes as well.