Myrteola nummularia (Poir.) O.Berg

Described by Bean as Myrtus nummularia, transferred to Myrteola May 2024 with text unchanged.

An evergreen shrub, usually prostrate and growing into a thick mat only a few inches above the ground; young shoots wiry, glabrous, reddish. Leaves opposite, oval, rounded at both ends, shortly stalked; usually 1⁄6 to 1⁄4 in. long, half to two-thirds as wide; bright dark green, glabrous on both sides, margins decurved. Flowers white, 1⁄4 to 1⁄3 in. wide, produced singly from the terminal leaf-axils, each on a very short stout stalk bearing a pair of more or less leafy bracteoles close to the calyx-tube. Calyx four-lobed; corolla of four rounded petals; stamens usually eight or twelve; fruit an oblong pink berry 1⁄4 in. long, crowned with the persisting calyx-lobes.

Native of the southern parts of S. America, especially in the Straits of Magellan and the Falkland Islands. It has long been known, having been described and named in 1796; it was collected originally by Commerson. Charles Darwin gathered it on Tierra del Fuego in 1833 during the voyage of the Beagle, and many others have found it since then, but it seems to have been comparatively recently introduced. It is well suited for carpeting moist shelves and stones in the rock garden. It is quite hardy south of London [but also thrives in the maritime, wet conditions of west Scotland: more information is needed on its hardiness. JMG, May 2024].. It flowers during November and December in S. America, equivalent to our May and June. The whole plant is rather suggestive of Gaultheria trichophylla.