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ERICACEAE

HEATH FAMILY

Gary D. Wallace, except as specified

Perennial, shrub, tree
Stem: bark often peeling distinctively
Leaves simple, generally cauline, alternate, opposite, rarely whorled, evergreen or deciduous, often leathery, petioled or not; stipules 0
Inflorescence: raceme, panicle, cyme, or flowers solitary, generally bracted; pedicels often with 2 bractlets
Flower generally bisexual, generally radial; sepals generally 4–5, generally free; petals generally 4–5, free or fused; stamens 8–10, free, filaments rarely appendaged, anthers awned or not, dehiscent by pores or slits; nectary generally at ovary base, 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
Seeds generally many, sometimes winged
Genera in family: ± 100 genera, 3000 species: generally worldwide except deserts; some cultivated, especially Arbutus, Arctostaphylos, Rhododendron, Vaccinium
Reference: [Wallace 1975 Wasmann J Biol 33:1–88; 1975 Bot Not 128:286–298]
Subfamilies Monotropoideae, Pyroloideae, Vaccinioideae sometimes treated as families. Nongreen plants obtain nutrition from green plants through fungal intermediates.

XYLOCOCCUS

Species in genus: 1 sp
Etymology: (Greek: wood berry, from stone of fruit)

Native

X. bicolor Nutt.

Shrub, burled
Stem erect, < 2.5 m; bark shredding; twigs canescent
Leaves generally alternate, evergreen, 2.5–4.5 cm, elliptic to oblong, leathery; margin entire, rolled under; upper surface glabrous, dark green; lower surface densely white- to gray-hairy
Inflorescence: panicle, ± reflexed, dense, bracted; bractlets 2; pedicels not jointed to flower
Flower: sepals generally 5; petals 5, fused, < 9 mm, urn-shaped, white or pinkish, hairy; stamens generally 10, filaments woolly in lower 1/2, anthers dehiscent by separate slits, awned; ovary superior, hairy, chambers generally 5, placentas axile
Fruit: drupe, < 9 mm wide, smooth; stones generally 5, fused into a smooth, 3–5-seeded unit
Chromosomes: 2n=26
Ecology: Chaparral
Elevation: < 650 m.
Bioregional distribution: South Coast, s Channel Islands (Santa Catalina Island)
Distribution outside California: n Baja California
Horticultural information: SUN, DRN: 14, 15, 16, 17, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24.