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enter image description hereenter image description hereCan anyone identify this plant? I've found it multiple times in Idaho's mountains and have been unable to identify it.

  • It's about 8 inches high,
  • Grows in small, sprawling clumps, maybe 1 foot across, with multiple clumps growing close to one another.
  • Single evergreen needles,
  • The flowers are pink and white (I've seen them blooming throughout the month of July)
  • I have found it high in the mountains of Idaho, above 9000 feet, growing on mostly open, and mostly flat, south facing slopes among whitebark pine, engleman spruce, and subalpine fir in dry soil, but very close to lakes or springs.
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  • A closer picture of the leaves and flowers would be helpful in identifying the plant
    – JStorage
    Commented Oct 25, 2016 at 22:50
  • Those are the best photos I've got.
    – 243DRob
    Commented Oct 25, 2016 at 23:05

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It's a mountain heath or heather, Phyllodoce empetriformis, a native perennial shrubby plant which has,variously, pale pink to deep pink to, occasionally, mauve-pink bell shaped flowers throughout summer. Classed as an alpine or sub alpine plant, likes acid soil conditions and prefers damp soil http://www.flora.dempstercountry.org/0.Site.Folder/Species.Program/Species.php?species_id=Phyllo.empe

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