Interesting Facts
Description
Family Calycanthaceae
Shrubs
, deciduous, rhizomatous
, aromatic
. Leaves opposite, without stipules, petiolate
. Leaf blade
: margins
entire or, on fast-growing shoots
, occasionally with a few teeth. Inflorescences terminal
on short, leafy branches of current
growth, solitary flowers. Flowers bisexual
. Hypanthium urn-shaped; tepals and stamens perigynous; inner tepals, stamens, and staminodes with succulent, white food bodies at tips
. Tepals 15-30, fleshy
, petaloid
, spirally inserted
on outside of hypanthium. Stamens 5-30, spirally inserted at top of hypanthium; staminodes 10-25, on inner surface of hypanthium; locules opening by longitudinal
slits. Pistils 5-35, 1-carpellate, spirally inserted within hypanthium; ovules 2 per locule, distal ovule abortive, submarginal
; style elongate
, filiform
; stigma dry, decurrent. Fruits achenes, 1-35, dark reddish brown, cylindric
, pubescent
, enclosed within enlarged, fibrous
persistent
hypanthium (pseudocarp) . Seeds : endosperm absent.
Genera 3, species 6 (1 genus, 2 species in the flora
) : temperate
North America and China.
Calycanthus is often grown ornamentally. Also in cultivation is Chimonanthus praecox (Linnaeus) Link, an eastern Asiatic shrub. Chimonanthus differs from Calycanthus in its scaly
buds and yellow flowers that appear long before the leaves.
Calycanthus contains calycanthine, an alkaloid similar to strychnine, and it is toxic
to humans and livestock (W. H. Lewis and M.
P. F. Elvin-Lewis 1977) .[1]
Taxonomy
- Domain:
Eukaryota
(
)
- Whittaker & Margulis,1978
- eukaryotes
- Kingdom:
Plantae
()
- Haeckel, 1866
- Plants
- Subkingdom:
Viridaeplantae
()
- Cavalier-Smith, 1981
- Phylum:
Tracheophyta
()
- Sinnott, 1935 ex Cavalier-Smith, 1998
- Vascular Plants
- Subphylum:
Euphyllophytina
()
- Infraphylum:
Radiatopses
()
- Kenrick & Crane, 1997
- Class:
Magnoliopsida
()
- Brongniart, 1843
- Dicotyledons
- Subclass:
Magnoliidae
()
- Novák ex Takhtajan, 1967
- Superorder:
Lauranae
()
- (Perleb, 1826) Takhtajan, 1997
- Order:
Laurales
()
- Perleb, 1826
- Family:
Calycanthaceae
()
- Lindley, 1819, nom. cons.
- Strawberry Shrub Family
- Genus:
Beureria
()
- Specific epithet:
praecox
- Kuntze
- Botanical name: - Beureria praecox Kuntze
- Specific epithet:
praecox
- Kuntze
- Genus:
Beureria
(
- Family:
Calycanthaceae
(
- Order:
Laurales
(
- Superorder:
Lauranae
(
- Subclass:
Magnoliidae
(
- Class:
Magnoliopsida
(
- Infraphylum:
Radiatopses
(
- Subphylum:
Euphyllophytina
(
- Phylum:
Tracheophyta
(
- Subkingdom:
Viridaeplantae
(
- Kingdom:
Plantae
(
Synonyms
Calycanthus praecox L.
Notes
Publishing author : Kuntze
Similar Species
Members of the genus Beureria
ZipcodeZoo has pages for 0 species, subspecies, varieties, forms, and cultivars in this genus:
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Further Reading
- Nicely, K. A. 1965. A monographic study of the Calycanthaceae. Castanea 30: 38-81.
- Wood, C. E. Jr. 1958. The genera of the woody Ranales in the southeastern United States. J. Arnold Arbor. 39: 296-346.
Notes
Contributors
- The International Plant Names Index. Accessed Dec 27, 2011.
Identifiers
- Biodiversity Heritage Library NamebankID: 10581278
- International Plant Names Index (IPNI) ID: 1034527-1
- Zipcode Zoo Species Identifier: 3831317
Footnotes
- George P. Johnson "Calycanthaceae". in Flora of North America Vol. 3. Oxford University Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
