This circumboreal wetland shrub is uncommon in pocosins in the Coastal Plain of North Carolina and has been recorded in one county in the Mountain region. It is much more common in the northern US and Canada.

Bladen Co., NC 3/25/07.

This one was actually growing in the water of Horseshoe Lake in Bladen County, anchored to the side of a Pondcypress (Taxodium ascendens) tree.

The leaves often point upwards.

Bladen Co., NC 10/7/06.

They are not always found next to water. This Leatherleaf was growing in a moist pine savanna, less than a mile from the lake shore.

Lake Waccamaw, Columbus Co., NC 9/28/2013.

The somewhat leathery evergreen leaves are dark green and lepidote (covered with whitish scales) above, pale below.

Bladen Co., NC 10/7/06.

The round capsules ripen in the fall.

Bladen Co., NC 10/7/06.

Lake Waccamaw, Columbus Co., NC 9/28/2013.

Lake Waccamaw, Columbus Co., NC 9/28/2013.

Bark detail.

Bladen Co., NC 3/25/07.