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.

ORNITHOSTAPHYLOS

Species in genus: 1 sp
Etymology: (Greek: bird cluster, for obscure reasons)

Native

O. oppositifolia (Parry) Small

BAJA CALIFORNIA BIRDBUSH

Shrub, glabrous to hairy, rigidly branched, burled
Stem erect, < 2 m; bark thin
Leaves opposite to whorled, 2.5–8 cm, 3–6 mm wide, ± linear, evergreen, leathery; margins rolled under
Inflorescence: panicle, bracted; bractlets 2; pedicels not jointed to flower
Flower: sepals (4)5, ± 1/2 fused; petals (4)5, ± 2/3 fused, ± spheric to urn-shaped, white; stamens generally 10, anthers dehiscent by separate gaping slits, awned; ovary superior, chambers 5, placentas axile
Fruit: drupe; stones 5, fused into a unit
Seeds generally 10
Ecology: Chaparral
Elevation: 100–800 m.
Bioregional distribution: South Coast (San Diego Co.)
Distribution outside California: n Baja California
Horticultural information: In cultivation.