Common Name: POKEWEED FAMILY Habit: [Annual to] perennial herb [to tree], generally +- glabrous. Leaf: alternate, simple, entire, generally petioled; stipules 0 or vestigial. Inflorescence: spike, raceme [panicle], [axillary or] terminal (then often lateral, +- opposite a leaf, by growth of bud axillary to that leaf); bract 1; bractlets 2. Flower: generally bisexual, radial; sepals [4]5[10], fused at base, generally persistent; petals 0; stamens 4--many, generally on disk, free or fused at base, in 1--2 whorls or not; carpels generally 1--12, [free] to fused, ovary generally superior, carpels = styles, chambers in number, ovules 1 per chamber, stigmas linear or thread-like. Fruit: berry [achene, capsule, drupe, nut, samara]. Genera In Family: +- 18 genera, 130 species: +- worldwide, especially American tropics, subtropics. Note: A broad family concept adopted here, as many as 6 segregate families sometimes recognized by others. eFlora Treatment Author: John W. Thieret, final revision by Thomas J. Rosatti Scientific Editor: Thomas J. Rosatti.
Habit: Perennial herb [to tree]; axes often +- red to purple. Flower: sepals 5[8], petal-like; stamens generally 5--30; carpels 5--12, +- fused. Fruit: berry, chambers 5--12. Seed: 1 per chamber. Etymology: (Greek, Latin: plant, crimson dye, from fruit color)
Phytolacca heterotepala H. Walter
WAIF Habit: Plant to 2.5 m. Leaf: blade < 13 cm, 6 cm wide, lanceolate to ovate; petiole to 5 cm. Inflorescence: +- open raceme, < 25 cm; peduncle to 5.5 cm; pedicel 2--5 mm. Flower: sepals unequal (largest +- 2 × smallest in width), 3--4 mm, narrowly to widely elliptic to oblanceolate, white with green +- central area; stamens 12--22, generally in 2 whorls; carpels 8--11, fused. Fruit: 6--7 mm diam, purple-black. Seed: 2--2.5 mm, lenticular, black, shiny. Ecology: Disturbed areas; Elevation: 10--60 m. Bioregional Distribution: CCo (San Francisco); Distribution Outside California: Mexico; alien in Europe. Flowering Time: Summer--winter Jepson eFlora Author: John W. Thieret, final revision by Thomas J. Rosatti Reference: Howell 1960 Leafl W Bot 9:81--83 Index of California Plant Names (ICPN; linked via the Jepson Online Interchange) Previous taxon: Phytolacca americana var. americana Next taxon: Phytolacca icosandra
Citation for this treatment: John W. Thieret, final revision by Thomas J. Rosatti 2012, Phytolacca heterotepala, in Jepson Flora Project (eds.) Jepson eFlora, https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/eflora_display.php?tid=38167, accessed on April 24, 2024.
Citation for the whole project: Jepson Flora Project (eds.) 2024, Jepson eFlora, https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/, accessed on April 24, 2024.
No expert verified images found for Phytolacca heterotepala.
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