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.

ARBUTUS

MADRONE

Shrub, tree, glabrous to hairy, burled or not
Stem erect; bark smooth at first, then shredding or fissured
Leaves alternate, evergreen, leathery
Inflorescence: panicle, bracted; bractlets 2
Flower: sepals 5, fused at base; petals 5, fused, urn-shaped; stamens 10, anthers dehiscent by short separate gaping slits, awns elongate; ovary superior, papillate, chambers 5
Fruit: berry
Seeds few per chamber, large
Species in genus: 20 species: North America, C.Am, w Eur, Medit, w Asia
Etymology: (Latin: name for A. unedo , strawberry tree)