The pollination and fruit production of Gaultheria procumbens L. (Ericaceae), an evergreen sub‐shrub, were studied in five woodland sites in New Jersey and one in northeastern Pennsylvania. Pollinator exclusion methods at three of the sites produced no consistent differences in fruit and seed set between enclosed plants and controls. Insect pollinators, almost exclusively bumblebees, were sparse at all sites; visitation rates were about 0.01 bee visits/flower/hr. All fruits examined contained at least 35 seeds, but about half of the pistils examined, from open‐pollinated plants, did not contain enough pollen tetrads on their stigmatic surfaces to fertilize this number of ovules. However, the low average fruit set of 8.2% on open‐pollinated plants was due more to the high mortality of buds prior to anthesis than to inadequate pollination. Bud mortality was high and fruit set low in 3 years of observations at various study sites, indicating that this may be a general pattern for the species in northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. The amount of sexual reproduction showed no consistent relationship to stem density.

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