Family Ericaceae
Description: Evergreen or deciduous shrubs (scandent, viney, trees), epiphytic or not, or (echlorophyllous) herbs (rhizomatous); hair roots present, with investing fungal hyphae forming a Hartig net; indumentum a mixture or unicellular and multicellular hairs, or unicellular hairs only (glabrous); terminal bud scaly (naked) or aborting.
Leaves spiral, opposite or whorled, entire or serrate (margins strongly revolute and leaves needle-like ["ericoid"]), estipulate.
Inflorescences terminal or axillary (flowers single), usually racemose; flowers usually conspicuous, hermaphroditic (functionally unisexual), polysymmetrical (bisymmetrical), bracteoles 2 or several (0); sepals (2-)4–5(-7), fused at the very base; petals (3) 4–5(-7), fused (fused as a cap; free); stamens (2-)5, 8, 10(-16), free from the corolla (adnate); anthers tetrasporangiate, inverting during development, with 2 (4) apparently terminal or dorsal appendages or not, dehiscence introrse or terminal (latrorse, extrorse), pores or short (long) slits, endothecium lacking (present), pollen in tetrahedral tetrads (monads); nectary present (absent); ovary superior to inferior, (1-)4–5(-12)-carpellate, placentation axile to intruded parietal (apical, basal), ovules (1-)8/carpel, anatropous to subcampylotropous, unitegmic, tenui¬nucellate; style usually about as long as corolla, hollow (expanded at the apex), stigma punctate to lobed.
Fruit a berry, drupe, or capsule (calyx fleshy); seeds small to minute, testa usually single-layered, variously winged or not; embryo straight, fusiform (embryo minute, undifferentiated), endosperm cellular, fleshy, well developed, with haustoria at both ends; germination epigeal.
Distribution and occurrence: Cosmopolitian family. c. 3850 species world wide.
External links:
Angiosperm Phylogeny Website (Family: Ericaceae, Order: Ericales)
Wikipedia Ericaceae is divided into 8 subfamilies; 4 subfamiles occur in NSW. Most of our native species occur in the subfamily Epacridoideae, and the genus Gaultheria in subfamily Vaccinioideae. Introduced species of Erica and Rhododendron are in subfamily Ericoideae; Arbutus unedo (the Strawberry Tree) is in subfamily Arbutiodeae. The subfamilies are not decribed here.
Text by From Kron et al. (2002) Phylogenetic classification of Ericaceae: molecular and morphological evidence. The Botanical Review 68: 335-423. Quinn, C.J. et al. (2005) Australian Systematic Botany 18, 439-454.
Taxon concept: Kron et al. 2002.
| | Key to the genera | |
| 1 | Leaves with only 1 main longitudinal vein | 2 |
| Leaves with 3–7 main longitudinal veins | 5 |
| 2 | Flowers 5-merous; leaves ovate or ovate-lanceolate, greater than 10 mm long | 3 |
| Flowers 4-merous; leaves linear, less than 10 mm long
Back to 1 | Erica |
| 3 | Leaves alternate | 4 |
| Leaves whorled
Back to 2 | Rhododendron |
| 4 | Leaves with toothed margins | Arbutus |
| Leaves with entire margins
Back to 3 | Gaultheria |
| 5 | Stems with annular leaf scars | 6 |
| Stems without annular leaf scars
Back to 1 | 7 |
| 6 | Corolla ovoid or conical, forming a 'cap' that splits near the base and is shed as the anthers expand, lobes not opening | Richea |
| Corolla with broad cylindrical or campanulate tube, the lobes spreading or recurved
Back to 5 | Dracophyllum |
| 7 | Leaves sheathing | Sprengelia |
| Leaves not sheathing
Back to 5 | 8 |
| 8 | Style inserted in depression at apex of ovary; fruit a loculicidal capsule | 9 |
| Style attenuate from the ovary, fruit a drupe or sometimes the endocarp separating into pyrenes
Back to 7 | 12 |
| 9 | Corolla lobes contorted in bud | Woollsia |
| Corolla lobes imbricate but not contorted in bud
Back to 8 | 10 |
| 10 | Filaments inserted in throat; anthers erect or spreading, dehiscing longitudinally | 11 |
| Filaments inserted at base of corolla tube; anthers converging around the style, dehiscing by apical slit
Back to 9 | Rupicola |
| 11 | Filaments shorter than anthers; anthers versatile, attached to filament about the middle | Epacris |
| Filaments longer than anthers; anthers fused to upper part of filament
Back to 10 | Budawangia |
| 12 | Corolla lobes valvate in bud | 13 |
| Corolla lobes basally or apically imbricate in bud
Back to 8 | 22 |
| 13 | Anthers on long filaments, well exserted from the tube; corolla lobes revolute | Styphelia |
| Anthers on short filaments, just exserted or partly or wholly enclosed in tube; lobes erect to spreading
Back to 12 | 14 |
| 14 | Corolla tube with hairs or scales inside below the middle | 15 |
| Corolla tube glabrous below the middle
Back to 13 | 16 |
| 15 | Corolla tube short and broad; lobes spreading; 5 glandular scales present near base of tube | Melichrus |
| Corolla tube elongated, cylindrical; lobes erect at base, spreading above; 5 tufts of hairs or ciliate scales inside, sometimes confluent in a ring, rarely glabrous
Back to 14 | Astroloma |
| 16 | Flowers pedicellate, the subtending bract and bracteoles inserted some distance from the calyx | Lissanthe |
| Flowers sessile, the subtending bracts and bracteoles inserted immediately below the calyx
Back to 14 | 17 |
| 17 | Drupaceous fruit with endocarp not separating into pyrenes | 18 |
| Drupaceous fruit with endocarp separating into pyrenes
Back to 16 | Pentachondra |
| 18 | Corolla lobes glabrous or sometimes papillose | Monotoca |
| Corolla lobes hairy
Back to 17 | 19 |
| 19 | Corolla lobes with erect tuft of hairs near apex, fine hairs at throat; flowers yellow-green or green | Acrotriche |
| Corolla lobes sparsely to densely bearded; flowers white, cream or red
Back to 18 | 20 |
| 20 | Flowers bisexual; corolla lobes usually longer or equal to tube; anthers usually with a sterile tip; mostly from lowland and montane areas | 21 |
| Flowers unisexual; corolla lobes shorter or subequal to tube; anthers without sterile tip; alpine and subalpine areas
Back to 19 | Acrothamnus |
| 21 | Ovary 2–5-locular | Leucopogon |
| Ovary 5–10-locular
Back to 20 | Agiortia |
| 22 | Corolla lobes basally imbricate; drupaceous fruit with endocarp not separating into pyrenes | Brachyloma |
| Corolla lobes apically imbricate; drupaceous fruit with endocarp separating into pyrenes
Back to 12 | Trochocarpa |
|
