Higher Taxonomy
Common Name: HEATH FAMILY Habit: Perennial herb, shrub, tree. Stem: bark often peeling distinctively. Leaf: simple or 0, generally cauline, alternate, opposite (whorled), evergreen or deciduous, often leathery, petioled or not; stipules 0. Inflorescence: raceme, panicle, cyme, or flowers 1, terminal or axillary, generally bracted; pedicel often with 2 bractlets. Flower: generally bisexual, generally radial, bell-shaped, cylindric, or urn-shaped; sepals generally (0)4--5, generally free; petals generally (0)4--5, free or fused; stamens (2--5)8--10, free, filaments rarely appendaged, anthers dehiscing by pores or slits, awns 0 or 2(4), seemingly abaxial, reduced or elongate, generally curved; nectary generally present at ovary base, generally disk-like; ovary superior or inferior, chambers generally 1--5, placentas axile or parietal, ovules 1--many per chamber, style 1, stigma head- to funnel-like or lobed. Fruit: capsule, drupe, berry. Seed: generally many, winged or not. Genera In Family: +- 100 genera, 3000 species: generally worldwide except deserts; some cultivated, especially Arbutus, Arctostaphylos, Rhododendron, Vaccinium. Note: Monophyletic only if Empetraceae included, as treated here. Ledum included in Rhododendron. Non-green plants obtain nutrition from green plants through fungal intermediates. eFlora Treatment Author: Gary D. Wallace, except as noted Scientific Editor: Gary D. Wallace, Thomas J. Rosatti, Bruce G. Baldwin.
|
|
Empetrum
Habit: Subshrub to low shrub, evergreen; generally dioecious. Stem: spreading to decumbent, densely branching. Leaf: alternate or whorled, linear to +- oblong, stiff, strongly rolled under, apparent groove abaxially. Inflorescence: axillary or terminal, flowers 1 or in few-flowered clusters, +- sessile. Flower: unisexual [bisexual], reduced, perianth parts 3--6, +- free, dark purple-red, subtended by scaly bracts. Fruit: drupe, generally juicy. Seed: stones 2--9. Species In Genus: 2--4 species: circumboreal, southern Chile, Tierra del Fuego. Etymology: (Greek: on rocks, from habitat) Note: Wind-pollinated. Jepson eFlora Author: Kathleen A. Kron Reference: Kron 1996 Ann Bot 77:293--304 Index of California Plant Names (ICPN; linked via the Jepson Online Interchange)
Previous taxon: Comarostaphylis diversifolia subsp. planifoliaNext taxon: Empetrum nigrum
| |
Please use this Google Form for Contact/Feedback
Citation for this treatment: Kathleen A. Kron 2012, Empetrum, in Jepson Flora Project (eds.) Jepson eFlora, https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/eflora_display.php?tid=9813, accessed on April 18, 2024.
Citation for the whole project: Jepson Flora Project (eds.) 2024, Jepson eFlora, https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/, accessed on April 18, 2024.
| |