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(Last Modified On 7/22/2013)
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(Last Modified On 7/22/2013)
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Family
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ERICACEAE
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Contributor
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ROBERT L. WILBUR AND JAMES L. LUTEYN
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Description
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Trees, shrubs, woody vines or herbs (the latter occasionally fleshy myco- parasites although often allegedly saprophytic). Leaves alternate but rarely opposite or whorled, simple, estipulate, coriaceous and persistent to membranous and deciduous; leaf scars usually with a single vascular bundle scar, nodes usually with one trace and one gap. Inflorescences basically racemose (either racemes, panicles, corymbs or flowers solitary); pedicels bibracteolate, subtended by a deciduous or persistent bract. Flowers mostly bisexual but rarely functionally unisexual (more rarely plants dioecious), actinomorphic or slightly zygomnorphic; mostly (4-)5(-7)-parted, typically obdiplostemonous, hypogynous or epigynous and with a typically biseriate perianth; sepals occasionally distinct or more typically calyx 4-5(-7)-lobed, often persistent, valvate, imbricate or reduplicate in bud; corolla occasionally distinct but more typically of 4-5(-7) united petals, commonly funnelform, campanulate or urceolate, and valvate, convolute or im- bricate in bud; stamens usually twice as many as the petals (or rarely just as many), borne on the edge of a nectariferous disc or rarely epipetalous, distinct or united, the anthers 2-celled, apparently inverting during development, dehisc- ing longitudinally or more typically by apical clefts or pores, often with distinct or connate tubules and often with terminal awns or abaxial spurs, pollen grains in tetrads or less frequently single (Monotropoideae); pistil (2)4-5(10)-carpel- late; stigma simple but occasionally weakly lobed, the style single, the ovary 1, superior or inferior, usually with as many locules as carpels or with twice as many locules as carpels or rarely loculate in lower portion and l-locular above the placentation axile, the ovules numerous or rarely solitary, anatropous to campy- lotropous with a single integumentary layer. Fruit a loculicidal or septicidal cap- sule, berry or drupe with a usually persistent, rarely accrescent and fleshy calyx; seeds usually small, anatropous, rarely winged or tailed.
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Habit
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Trees, shrubs, woody vines or herbs
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Note
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The Ericaceae is a family of about 100 genera and perhaps 3,000 species, widely distributed in the temperate regions of both hemispheres and in the tropics where it is more abundant in the mountains.
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Reference
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Drude, 0. 1889. Ericaceae. In A. Engler & K. Prantl (editors), Die natiirlichen Pflanzenfamilien IV, 1: 15-65. Sleumer, H. 1941. Vaccinioideen-Studien. Bot. Jahrb. Syst. 71: 375-510. Small, J. K. 1914. Ericaceae. N. Amer. Fl. 29: 33-102. Smith, A. C. 1932. The American species of Thibaudieae. Contr. U.S. Natl. Herb. 28: 311-547. Standley, P. C. & L. 0. Williams. 1966. Ericales in Flora of Guatemala. Fieldiana, Bot. 24(pt. 8): 73-127. Stevens, P. F. 1971. A classification of the Ericaceae: subfamnilies and tribes. J. Linn. Soc. Bot. 64:1-53. Wood, Carroll E., Jr. 1961. The genera of the Ericaceae in the Southeastern United States. J. Arnold Arbor. 42: 10-80.
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Key
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KEY TO THE GENERA a. Leaves whitish, pinkish or reddish or at least not green (i.e. lacking chlorophyll); plants herbaceous, succulent ...... 12. Monotropa aa. Leaves green; plants woody shrubs or trees. b. Petals distinct; fruit a 6-7 locular, septicidally dehiscent capsule ...... 4. Befaria bb. Petals united; fruit a berry, drupe or if a capsule, then loculicidal. c. Ovary superior. d. Anther sacs (thecae) each terminated by 2, ascendent to erect awns; calyx lobes either closely appressed to base of fruit or becoming some- what succulent and accressant at maturity; fruit a berry or capsule, many seeded, with a smooth or pubescent surface but never beset with columnar projections. e. Calyx neither becoming succulent in fruit nor enveloping the berry, calyx lobes in fruit less than 1/4 length of the berry; flowers solitary in the axils of the upper leaves ...... 13. Pernettya ee. Calyx becoming somewhat succulent in fruit accrescent, and closely enveloping the basal 2/3 of the capsule; calyx lobes in fruit more than 1/2 the length of the capsule; flowers in terminal or axillary racemes or panicles ...... 8. Gaultheria dd. Anther sacs (thecae) each bearing a single reflexed or dorsally spread- ing awn; calyx lobes never becoming fleshy and either spreading or reflexed; fruit a drupe with 4-10, seed-like nutlets and with the sur- face always densely beset with columnar projections ...... 3. Arctostaphylos cc. Ovary inferior. f. Hypanthium continuous with the pedicel, the pedicel not jointed. g. Hypanthium winged or angled. h. Flowers solitary; corolla 1 cm long or less; pedicels shorter than the flowers, less than 3 mm long, bibracteolate; stamens less than 5 mm long; coralla unwinged ...... 17. Themistoclesia hh. Flowers in 2-4-flowered racemes; corolla 1.5 cm long or more; pedicels as long as the flowers, ca. 15 mm long or longer, ebracteolate; stamens ca. 10 mm long; corolla 5- winged ...... 2. Anthopterus gg. Hypanthium wingless. i. Flowers and fruits borne on slender, elongate pedicels equal- ling or longer than the subtending leaves. j. Calyx 10 mm or longer; corolla 20 mm long or longer; stamens 10 mm long or longer ...... 6. Didonica jj. Calyx 4 mm long or less; corolla 6 ( -12) mm long or less; stamens 5(-9) mm long or less ...... 16. Sphyrospermum ii. Flowers and fruits borne on pedicels much shorter than the subtending leaves ...... 19. Vaccinium ff. Hypanthium disarticulating from the pedicel, the pedicel clearly jointed just below the flower. k. Calyx basally clasped by 2, ovate, pedicellary bractlets so as to be largely hidden from view; pedicels less than 2 mm long ...... 7. Disterigma kk. Calyx not basally clasped by 2, ovate, pedicellary bractlets and not largely hidden by them; pedicels mostly more than 2 mm long. l. Anthers dehiscing by longitudinal slits extending for much of the length of the anther sacs; tubules rudimentary, less than 0.4 mm long ...... 9. Lateropora 11. Anthers dehiscing by pores or clefts on the tubules, these not extending onto the anther sacs; tubules well developed, 1 mm long or longer. m. Stamens with filaments and anthers all of the same length. n. Anther sacs rigid and coarsely granular; tubules rigid. o. Anther connectives unspurred; tubules united completely with a single passage or laterally connate but with 2 passages or rarely distinct to their bases ...... 11. Macleania oo. Anther connectives all or alternately laterally spurred; tubules distinct to their bases ...... 14. Psammisia nn. Anther sacs flexible and smooth or finely granular; tubules flexible. p. Anthers spurless. q. Inflorescence paniculate; filaments connate; corolla white or pinkish ...... 18. Thibaudia qq. Inflorescence corymbose; filaments distinct; corolla greenish or greenish yellow ...... 19. V accinium pp. Anthers dorsally spurred. r. Leaves 5-plinerved, entire; hypanthium conspicuously 5-winged ...... 1. Anthopteropsis rr. Leaves pinnately veined, serrulate; hypan- thium wingless ...... 19. Vaccinium mm. Stamens, filaments or anthers or both alternately un- equal, obviously of 2 lengths. s. Filaments clearly unequal in length, distinct or rarely weakly coherent at the very base. t. Calyx lobes 5, less than 1 cm long; anthers alternately unequal in length; stamens more than half as long as the corolla, floral bracts usually longer than 10 mm and always at least 3 mm long ...... 5. Cavendishia tt. Calyx lobes 3, 1.5 cm long or longer; anthers equal in length; stamens about 1/3 as long as the corolla; floral bracts ca. 1.5 mm long ...... 10. L y siclesia ss. Filaments of equal length, connate for their entire length ...... 15. Satyria
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