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• Taxonomy
• Physical Description
• Distribution
• Growth
• Similar Species
• Bibliography
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Taxonomy

Physical 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]

Genus Vaccinium:

Shrubs or small trees, terrestrial or epiphytic. Leaves evergreen or deciduous, rarely pseudoverticillate, petiolate, margin entire or serrate. Inflorescences terminal or axillary, racemose, fasciculate, or solitary flowers. Bracts and bracteoles persistent or caducous, the latter small, basal, rarely apical; pedicel expanded towards apex or not, articulate, rarely continuous. Flowers 5-, rarely 4-merous. Calyx limb lobed or toothed. Corolla urceolate, campanulate, or tubular, lobed or toothed, usually to base of limb; lobes erect or recurved, mostly shorter than tube, rarely longer or petals apparently free. Stamens rarely 4, usually included; anthers with 2 spurs at anther-filament junction or not; thecae with tubules opening by a terminal pore or introrse slit. Disk annular. Ovary inferior, usually 8- or 10-pseudoloculed by false partitions; locule with many ovules; stigma inconspicuous, truncate. Fruit a several seeded globose berry. Seeds ovoid, small, testa hard or mucilaginous.

About 450 species: throughout the N hemisphere, also in the mountains of tropical Asia and Central and South America, a few species in Africa and Madagascar; 92 species (51 endemic) in China.

The limits of Vaccinium are very uncertain. Recent molecular work, supported by morphology and anatomy, suggests that it is likely that the majority of Chinese species, i.e., those with 10-pseudoloculed ovaries, form part of the same lineage as Agapetes.^[2]

Habit: Deciduous.

Flowers: Bloom Period: January, February.

Distribution

Growth

Culture: Space 6-8' apart.

Soil: Minimum pH: 4.6 • Maximum pH: 5.5

Sunlight: Sun Exposure: Full Sun.

Temperature: Cold Hardiness: 7b, 8a, 8b, 9a. (map)

Similar Species

Members of the genus Vaccinium:

There are approximately 1,185 species, subspecies, varieties, forms, and cultivars in this genus. Here are just 100 of them: V. delavayi merrillianum · V. oxycoccos microphyllum · V. uliginosum gaultherioides · V. uliginosum imberbe · V. uliginosum occidentale · V. uliginosum pubescens · V. sphyrospermoides · V. 'Berkeley' · V. 'Bluejay' · V. 'Blueray' · V. 'Chippewa' · V. 'Cinderella' · V. 'Duke' · V. 'Earliblue' · V. 'Groover' · V. 'McMinn' · V. 'Misty' · V.'NC 2282' (Blueberry) · V. 'Nimo Pink' · V. 'Northblue' (Half-High Highbush Blueberry) · V. 'Northcountry' (Half-High Highbush Blueberry) · V. 'Northland' (Half-High Highbush Blueberry) · V. 'Northsky' (Half-High Highbush Blueberry) · V. 'Ozarkblue' · V. 'Patriot' · V. 'Spartan' · V. 'Sunrise' · V. 'Sunshine Blue' · V. 'Top Hat' (Dwarf Blueberry) · V. 'Tophat' · V. absconditum · V. acosta · V. acrobracteatum · V. acuminatissimum · V. acuminatum · V. acutissimum · V. adenandrum · V. adenanthum · V. adenochaetum · V. adenotrichum · V. adenurum · V. affine · V. africanum · V. agathosmoides · V. agusanense · V. aitapense · V. alainii · V. alaskaense · V. alaskaensis · V. alaskensis · V. alaternoides · V. alaternoides Kunth var. parvifolium Benth. · V. alaternoides var. parvifolium · V. alatum · V. albicans · V. albicans var. albicans · V. albidens · V. albiflorum · V. album · V. almedae · V. alnifolium · V. alpinum · V. altiterrae · V. alto-montanum · V. alvarezii · V. amamianum · V. ambiualens (Stout Blacksmelt) · V. ambivalens · V. amblyandrum · V. ambyandrum · V. amicorum · V. amoemum · V. amphoterum · V. amplexicaule · V. amplifolium · V. ampulaceum · V. ampullaceum · V. andersonii · V. andringitrense · V. anfractum · V. angiense · V. angulatum · V. angulosum · V. angustifolium (Lowbush Blueberry) · V. angustifolium 'Burgundy' · V. angustifolium 'Claret' · V. angustifolium 'Cumberland' · V. angustifolium 'Jonesboro' · V. angustifolium Aiton var. hypolasium Fernald · V. angustifolium Aiton var. laevifolium House · V. angustifolium f. chiococcum · V. angustifolium f. leucoarpum · V. angustifolium f. leucocarpum · V. angustifolium f. nigrum · V. angustifolium Newfoundland form · V. angustifolium var. glaucescens · V. angustifolium var. integrifolium · V. angustilimbum · V. anthonyi · V. antipodum

Bibliography

• 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.

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Notes

Contributors:

• Brands, S.J. (comp.) 1989-2006. Systema Naturae 2000. The Taxonomicon. Universal Taxonomic Services, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Accessed April 19, 2007.

Identifiers:

• Zipcode Zoo Species Identifier: 961640

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.
2. Fang Rhui-cheng, Peter F. Stevens "Vaccinium". in Flora of China Vol. 14 Page 476. Published by Science Press (Beijing) and Missouri Botanical Garden Press. Online at EFloras.org.