Escallonia
Escallonia rubra
Escallonia is a genus of flowering plants in the family of Escalloniaceae. The Escallonia species occur in the Andes in South America. The genus includes about 147 species.
Description
The Escallonia species grow as evergreen shrubs or trees, reaching up to 10 meters Height. The smooth, leathery, undivided leaves are toothed or entire margins and are alternate.
The hermaphrodite, radial symmetry five petals are in panicles. The remaining, more or less deformed cup is pentadentate, the five free petals usually much longer than the sepals. There are five free stamens, which are about as long as the sepals. The ovary formed from two or three carpels is under constant. The scar sits on a cylindrical stylus.
There shall be two -, four - or three -, sechsfächerige capsule fruits.
Ecological Significance
Some Escallonia species, are an essential part of the natural vegetation of the Andes in Peru in particular Escallonia resinosa ( chachakuma ) and Escallonia myrtilloides ( t'asta ). Overgrazing and excessive use of firewood they are threatened in their collections.
System
A first description of the genus by the botanist José Celestino Mutis and the type species Escallonia myrtilloides was published by Carl Linnaeus the Younger in 1781. The genus Stereoxylon described by Hipólito Ruiz López and José Antonio Pavón y Jiménez 1798 is a synonym; described in the same place Stereoxylon species were assigned to the genus Escallonia by Christiaan Hendrik Persoon 1805. Stereoxylon patens is a synonym of Escallonia myrtilloides. In this synonymy but also point already Ruiz and Pavón 1798.
The genus Escallonia comprises about 147 species, including (selection):