Calycanthus acuminatus

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

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]

Genus Calycanthus

Twigs quadrangular to nearly terete , pubescent to glabrous . Buds naked. Leaves 2-ranked. Leaf blade elliptic , ovate , or ovate-lanceolate; surfaces adaxially scabrous . Flowers maroon or reddish brown, rarely greenish or green-tipped, with strawberry or pineapple scent. x = 11.

Species 3: temperate North America.[2]

Taxonomy

Notes

Publishing author : Hort. ex K .Koch Publication : Hort. Dendrol. 183 1853

Similar Species

Members of the genus Calycanthus

ZipcodeZoo has pages for 13 species, subspecies, varieties, forms, and cultivars in this genus:

C. brockiana (Brock Sweetshrub) · C. chinensis (Chinese Allspice) · C. floridus (Bubby Bush) · C. floridus L. var. floridus (Eastern Sweetshrub) · C. floridus L. var. glaucus (Willd.) Torr. and A.Gray (Eastern Sweetshrub) · C. floridus var. floridus (Eastern Sweetshrub) · C. floridus var. glaucus (Eastern Sweetshrub) · C. floridus 'Athens' (Bubby Bush) · C. floridus 'Edith Wilder' (Carolina Allspice) · C. floridus 'Michael Lindsey' (Common Sweetshrub) · C. occidentalis (California Allspice) · C. raulstonii 'Hartlage Wine' (Eastern Sweetshrub) · C. raulstonii 'Venus' (Eastern Sweetshrub)

More Info

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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

• Brands, S.J. (comp.) 1989-present. The Taxonomicon. Universal Taxonomic Services, Zwaag, The Netherlands. Accessed March 27, 2012.

Identifiers

• Biodiversity Heritage Library NamebankID: 10581284
• International Plant Names Index (IPNI) ID: 139213-1
• Zipcode Zoo Species Identifier: 3831323

Footnotes

1. George P. Johnson "Calycanthaceae". in Flora of North America Vol. 3. Oxford University Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
2. "Calycanthus". in Flora of North America Vol. 3. Oxford University Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]

©2004-2012 David Stang. All rights reserved.