Arbutus pumila

• Interesting Facts
• Description
• Taxonomy
• Similar Species
• More Info
• Further Reading
• Notes

Interesting Facts

Description

Family Ericaceae

Plants usually woody, or herbs, sometimes lacking chlorophyll. Leaves spiral , sometimes decussate, margin often toothed . Inflorescence racemose; bracteoles paired , basal. Flowers (4 or) 5-merous. Calyx imbricate. Corolla connate , imbricate. Stamens 10, sometimes with spurs or awns , dehiscing by pores , pollen in tetrads , rarely single. Ovary superior or inferior, placentation axile , rarely parietal , often many ovules per locule. Style ± as long as corolla, slender. Fruit a capsule or berry, rarely a drupe; calyx persistent.

About 125 genera and 4000 species: widely distributed in temperate and subarctic regions, also at high elevations in tropical regions ; 22 genera and 826 species (524 endemic) in China.

The Monotropoideae are here included in the Ericaceae; previously in FRPS (56: 157 216. 1990), they were treated as the Pyrolaceae. Chiogenes, recorded from China in FRPS (57(3) : 69 71. 1991), is here included in Gaultheria. Over the last half century, the Empetraceae have usually been separated from, but closely associated with, the Ericaceae. In their ecology, leaf morphology and insertion , rusts, embryology, stamen anatomy, etc. , they largely agree with that family . Molecular data place Empetrum and its relatives firmly within the Ericaceae, and in particular within the subfamily Ericoideae, in agreement with phytochemical and palynological data, and there they are best recognized as a separate tribe . There are distinctive features of the Empetreae that were responsible for their past familial status, e.g. , reduced perianth with separate members , low ovule number, enlarged stigmas, etc. However, these are likely to be derived features associated with wind pollination. See Kron et al. (Bot. Rev. 68: 335 423. 2002) and the recent treatment of the Ericaceae by Stevens et al. (in Kubitzki, Fam. Gen. Vasc. Pl. 6: 145 194. 2004) .

Several genera and many species are ornamentals . Some fruits of Vaccinium in N China are sweet and edible, but of no particular value to humans. Some species of Chamaedaphne, Craibiodendron, Leucothoë, Lyonia, Pieris, and Rhododendron contain more or less toxic diterpenes, which are harmful to humans or domestic animals.[1]

Taxonomy

Synonyms

Gaultheria pumila (L. F.) D. J. Middleton

Notes

Publishing author : G.Forst. Publication : in Comm. Gotting. ix. (1789) 32

Similar Species

Members of the genus Arbutus

ZipcodeZoo has pages for 12 species, subspecies, varieties, forms, and cultivars in this genus:

A. andrachne (Grecian Strawberry Tree) · A. arizonica (Arizona Madrone) · A. canariensis (Madro) · A. menziesii (Pacific Madrone) · A. unedo (Killarney Strawberry Tree) · A. unedo f. rubra (Strawberry Tree) · A. unedo 'Compacta' (Compact Strawberry Bush) · A. unedo 'Elfin King' (Killarney Strawberry Tree) · A. unedo 'Rubra' (Pink Strawberry Tree) · A. xalapensis (Texas Madrone) · A. x 'Marina' (Marina Strawberry Tree) · A. 'Marina' (Strawberry Tree)

More Info

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Further Reading

• Britton, N. L. (ed.). North American flora. 29 1914 [New York]New York Botanical Garden. url p. 81.
• Bulletin of the California Academy of Sciences. [S.l.: The Academy], 1884- url p. 489.
• Garden flowers; how to cultivate them. A treatise on the culture of hardy ornamental trees, shrubs, annuals, herbaceous and bedding plants. By Edward Sprague Rand, jr.. .. Boston, J. E. Tilton and company, 1866. url p. 45.
• Hooker, J. D. The botany of the Antarctic voyage of H.M. discovery ships Erebus and Terror in the Years 1839-1843: under the command of Captain Sir James Clark Ross /by Joseph Dalton Hooker. London: Reeve Brothers, 1844-60. url p. 326.
• Manual of the botany of the region of San Francisco Bay. .. By Edward Lee Greene. .. San Francisco, Cubery & Company, Printers, 1894. url p. 232.
• Practical forestry. A treatise on the propagation, planting, and cultivation, with a description, and the botanical and popular names of all the indigenous trees of the United States. By Andrew S. Fuller. New York, Orange Judd company1884. url p. 286.
• The Journal of horticulture, cottage gardener and country gentlemen. London: George W. Johnson and Robert Hogg, 1861-1877. url p. 433.
• Chou Yiliang & Zhou Ruichang. 1990. Pyrolaceae. In: Fang Wenpei & Hu Wenkuang, eds., Fl. Reipubl. Popularis Sin. 56: 157216
• Fang Rhuicheng, Yang Hanbi & Chin Tsenli. 1999. Ericaceae (1). In: Fang Rhuicheng, ed., Fl. Reipubl. Popularis Sin. 57(1): 1213
• Hsu Tingzhi, Gao Baochun, Fang Rhuicheng & Huang Shuhua. 1991. Ericaceae (3). In: Fang Rhuicheng, ed., Fl. Reipubl. Popularis Sin. 57(3): 1207
• Hu Wenkuang, Hu Lincheng, Fang Mingyuan & He Mingyou. 1994. Ericaceae (2). In: Hu Lincheng, Fang Mingyuan, ed., Fl. Reipubl. Popularis Sin. 57(2): 1438
• Ming Tien lu. 1980. Empetraceae. In: Cheng Mien & Ming Tien lu, eds., Fl. Reipubl. Popularis Sin. 45(1): 6062.

Notes

Contributors

• Brands, S.J. (comp.) 1989-present. The Taxonomicon. Universal Taxonomic Services, Zwaag, The Netherlands. Accessed January 10, 2012.

Identifiers

• Biodiversity Heritage Library NamebankID: 8778928
• Globally Unique Identifier: urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:326507-1
• International Plant Names Index (IPNI) ID: 326507-1
• Zipcode Zoo Species Identifier: 1268586

Footnotes

1. Mingyuan Fang, Ruizheng Fang, Mingyou He, Linzheng Hu, Hanbi Yang, Haining Qin, Tianlu Min, David F. Chamberlain, Peter Stevens, Gary D. Wallace & Arne Anderberg "Ericaceae". in Flora of China Vol. 14 Page 242. Published by Science Press (Beijing) and Missouri Botanical Garden Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]

©2004-2012 David Stang. All rights reserved.