Gaultheria nummularioides var. elliptica Rehder & E. H. Wilson; G. nummularioides var. microphylla C. Y. Wu & T. Z. Hsu; G. repens Blume.

Shrubs prostrate, small, many branched. Twigs terete, wiry, densely brown hirsute. Leaves dense; petiole ca. 1 mm; leaf blade broadly ovate or suborbicular, sometimes ovate or elliptic, 5–10(–18) × 3–9(–16) mm, papery or leathery, abaxially densely or sparsely setiferous, usually pale, sometimes red punctate, adaxially glabrous, secondary veins 2 or 3 pairs, secondary and fine veins slightly raised abaxially, inconspicuous adaxially, base obtuse, truncate, rounded, or subcordate, rarely cuneate, margin denticulate-setulose, apex acute, distinctly mucronate. Flowers solitary, axillary. Pedicel ca. 1 mm; bracts ovate-triangular, ca. 1.5 mm; bracteoles 2–4, persistent, stramineous, larger than bracts, carinate, ca. 3 mm, glabrous. Calyx glabrous; lobes ovate, ca. 3 mm, apex shortly acuminate. Corolla white, pink, or crimson, campanulate, ca. 5 mm, abaxially glabrous; lobes often erect, ca. 1 mm, triangular. Filaments spindle-shaped, ca. 1.5 mm, villous, papillate; anthers ca. 1.5 mm, thecae 2-awned. Ovary glabrous. Calyx at fruiting blue-purple or black; capsule globose, 6–7(–9) mm in diam., glabrous. Fl. Jul–Oct, fr. Mar–Dec. 2n = 44.

This species is variable in the shape and size of its leaves and in its indumentum.

Abies, Picea, Pinus, and Tsuga forests, often on rocks, rarely epiphytic on trees; 1000–2000(–3400) m. WC Sichuan, SE Xizang, N and SE Yunnan [Bangladesh, Bhutan, NE India (Darjiling), Indonesia (Java, Sumatra), Myanmar, Nepal, Sikkim].