Gaultheria is a genus of about 135 species of
shrubs in the family
Ericaceae. The name commemorates Jean-François Gauthier of Quebec, an honour bestowed by the Scandinavian
Pehr Kalm in 1748 and taken up by
Carl Linnaeus in his . These plants are native to
Asia,
Australasia and
North and
South America. In the past, the Southern Hemisphere species were often treated as the separate genus
Pernettya, but no consistent reliable morphological or genetic differences support recognition of two genera, and they are now united in the single genus
Gaultheria.