Gaultheria

Gaultheria adenothrix

The apparent berries ( Gaultheria ), also called partridge berries, are a genus of flowering plants in the family Ericaceae ( Ericaceae ).

• 5.1 Notes and references

Description

Vegetative characteristics

Gaultheria species usually grow as evergreen shrubs or subshrubs, reach stature heights of less than 10 cm to 2.5 m. An exception is the native of the Himalayas Gaultheria fragrantissima that can reach as small tree stature heights 5-6 m. The branches are erect to creeping. The bark of the branches is bald to hairy. The spirally arranged on the branch, stalked leaves when crushed give off an aromatic scent. The simple, ovate, elliptical, more or less circular or kidney-shaped leaf blades with hairy or bare surfaces usually have a serrated, notched or ciliated margin.

Generative features

The flowers are borne in pendent, racemose inflorescences individually or in pairs to twelfth. The hermaphrodite flowers are usually five, rarely cruciform with a double perianth. The rarely four, usually five egg -, delta -shaped or heart-shaped sepals are fused only at the base to almost its entire length with each other; sometimes they protrude beyond the petals. The ( four ) five mostly white, cream to pink petals are urns, bell-shaped or Roehrig grown on one-half to almost its entire length to each other. There are two circles, each provided with four or five stamens, they are significantly shorter than the petals. The widened stamens are. The dust bag can hold two to four "horns". Four or five carpels are usually for a four - or mostly fünfkammerigen, grown above or half- inferior ovary.

The most fünffächerigen capsule fruits are fleshy and round, they look a like berries. They are red when ripe usually, in some species, but also white or blue. These false fruits of the fleshy portion of the fruit is not formed from the pericarp, but by the sepals. These are greatly thickened and shroud the very thin-walled compared capsule fruit. Hence the German trivial name bill berry stems for this genus. Each fruit contains 20 to more than 80 seeds. The small seeds are ovoid with a smooth seed coat ( testa).

The basic chromosome number is x = 11, 12, 13

Occurrence

The distribution of the genus Gaultheria mainly includes North and South America, next to India, Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand, as well as the Himalayas and Japan.

Individual bill berry species as an ornamental plant today, also planted in the moderate latitudes, mostly as a ground cover.

System

Carl von Linnaeus in 1753 the genus Gaultheria procumbens Gaultheria with the type species in Species Plantarum, 1, pp. 395 first published. Synonyms for Gaultheria L. are: Brossaea L., Brossea Kuntze var orth, Chiogenes Salisb. ex Torr .. The genus Gaultheria belongs to the tribe Gaultherieae in the subfamily Vaccinioideae within the family Ericaceae.

There are about 115-135 species of Gaultheria. Here is a selection types:

• Gaultheria acuminata Schltdl. & Cham. Syn: Gaultheria nitida Benth.
• Gaultheria adenothrix ( Miq. ) Maxim.
• Gaultheria amoena A.C.Sm.
• Gaultheria anastomosans ( L. f ) Kunth
• Gaultheria antipoda G.Forst.
• Gaultheria borneensis Stapf ( Syn: Gaultheria itoana Hayata )
• Gaultheria bracteata Cav. & Sleumer
• Gaultheria brevistipes ( CYWu & TZHsu ) RCFang
• Gaultheria cardiosepala Hand. - Mazz.
• Gaultheria codonantha Airy Shaw
• Chinese bill berry ( Gaultheria cuneata ( Rehder & EHWilson ) Bean), Syn: Gaultheria cuneata var pyroloides Rehder & EHWilson
• Gaultheria depressa Hook. f
• Gaultheria Dolichopoda Airy Shaw
• Gaultheria dumicola W.W.Sm.
• Gaultheria erecta Vent.
• Gaultheria foliolosa Benth.
• Gaultheria forrestii Diels
• Gaultheria fragrantissima Wall.
• Gaultheria glomerata ( Cav. ) Sleumer ( Syn: Gaultheria brachybotrys DC. )
• Gaultheria griffithiana Wight
• Gaultheria heteromera R.C.Fang
• Gaultheria hispida R.Br.
• Gaultheria hispidula (L.) Muhl.
• Gaultheria hookeri CBClarke ( Syn: Gaultheria veitchiana Craib )
• Gaultheria humifusa ( Graham) Rydb.
• Gaultheria hypochlora Airy Shaw
• Gaultheria insipida Benth.
• Gaultheria japonica ( A. Gray ) Sleumer
• Gaultheria jingdongensis R.C.Fang
• Gaultheria lanigera Hook.
• Gaultheria leucocarpa flower ( Syn: Gaultheria cumingiana S.Vidal, Gaultheria yunnanensis ( Franch. ) Rehder )
• Gaultheria longibracteolata R.C.Fang
• Gaultheria longiracemosa
• Gaultheria megalodonta A.C.Smith
• Gaultheria miqueliana Takeda
• Gaultheria Mundula F.Muell.
• Gaultheria notabilis J.Anthony
• Gaultheria nummularioides D.Don
• Gaultheria oppositifolia Hook. f
• Gaultheria oreogena A.C.Smith
• Gaultheria ovatifolia A.Gray
• Gaultheria perplexa Kirk
• Gaultheria phillyreifolia ( Pers.) Sleumer
• Gaultheria praticola C.Y.Wu
• Wintergreen shrub ( Gaultheria procumbens L.)
• Gaultheria prostrata W.W.Sm.
• Gaultheria pseudonotabilis H.Li ex R.C.Fang
• Gaultheria punctata flower ( Syn: Gaultheria fragrantissima auct. )
• Gaultheria purpurea R.C.Fang
• Gaultheria pyrolifolia Hook.f. ex C.B.Clarke
• Gaultheria pyroloides Hook. f & Thomson ex Miq. ( Syn: . Gaultheria pyrolifolia Hook f ex CBClarke )
• Gaultheria reticulata Kunth
• Gaultheria rigida H.B.K.
• Gaultheria rupestris ( L. f ) D.Don
• Gaultheria sclerophylla Cuatrec.
• Gaultheria semi- infera ( C.B.Clarke ) Airy Shaw
• Shallon bill berry ( Gaultheria shallon Pursh )
• Gaultheria sinensis J.Anthony
• Gaultheria sphagnicola Rich.
• Gaultheria stereophylla A.C.Smith
• Gaultheria straminea R.C.Fang
• Gaultheria strigosa Benth.
• Gaultheria suborbicularis W.W.Sm.
• Gaultheria taiwaniana S.S.Ying
• Gaultheria tetramera W.W.Sm.
• Gaultheria tomentosa Kunth
• Gaultheria trichophylla Royle
• Gaultheria trigonoclada R.C.Fang
• Gaultheria vaccinoides Weddell.
• Gaultheria wardii C.Marquand & Airy Shaw.

The following previously unclassified species here are currently assigned to other genera (selection):

• Gaultheria mucronata ( L. f ) Hook. & Arn. is now Pernettya mucronata ( L. f ) Spreng.

Others

False fruits are considered to be slightly toxic.

From the plant, an oil is obtained for rubbing. In North America, see the leaves as a tea use.

The genus was named by Pehr Kalm in his manuscript Fauna Canadensis after the physician and naturalist Jean François Gaultier (1708-1756) ( also spelled Gauthier, Gautier Gault here ). The manuscript is now lost, but was then evaluated by Linnaeus.

Swell

• Debra K. Trock: Gaultheria in the Flora of North America. Volume 8, 2009, p 512: Online. ( Description section )
• Fang Ruizheng (方 瑞 征catch Rhui -cheng ), Peter F. Stevens: Gaultheria. In: Flora of China. Volume 14, 2005, p 464: Online. ( Description section )