Leatherleaf

Chamaedaphne calycuta
A moderate growing, rhizomatous, small, evergreen shrub, reaching up to 5 feet, that is native to peat bogs and edges of streams and lakes in northern North America ( from northwest Alaska to far northwest Northwest Territories to southern Nunavut to Churchill, Manitoba to far northern Ontario to northern Quebec to Labrador & Newfoundland; south to British Columbia to Grande Prairie, Alberta to northern Minnesota to northeast Illinois to northern Ohio to Maryland...locally further south in Appalachian Mountians ). It is also native from northeastern Europe through Siberia to Kamchatka. It is critically endangered in British Columbia, Illinois, Ohio, Maryland and North Carolina; extinct in Iowa and Georgia ).
The oval leaves are up to 2 x 0.6 inches in size. The leathery foliage is glossy deep green.
The small white flowers, up to 0.25 inches, are borne in clusters up to 4.8 inches long, during late spring.
Hardy zones 2 to 6 ( seed source from Yukon likely much hardier to zone 1 ) in full sun to partial shade on permanently moist, light, acidic soil.

* photos taken on May 27 2017 @ Meadowlark Botanical Gardens, Vienna, VA

* photo taken by Robert H. Mohlenbrock @ USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database

* USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database

* historic archive photo

'Verdant'
A selection made by the famous Mt Cuba Horticultural research center in Delaware originating from a plant selected in the Pine Barrens of New Jersey that had improved winter foliage color.
Hardy zones 3 to 7...it is more heat tolerant than clones from New England or north of the Canadian Border.

* photos taken on Oct 21 2014 @ U.S. Botanical Gardens, Washington, DC