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Ericaceae
See list of 27 genera in this familyThe anthers of the Ericaceae are sometimes provided with specialized features that can aid in identification; however, the naming of these features has been confused in some manuals where they use different names interchangeably. Slender appendages that are found on the filament near or at the junction of the anther are here referred to as spurs. Similar appendages that are borne on the anthers are here referred to as awns. These names are used regardless of the orientation of the appendages.
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2a. Plants lacking chlorophyll, the stems and capsules white, pink to red, or yellow to light brown; leaves reduced, scale-like, without green pigment
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3a. Inflorescence a solitary flower; stems glabrous, usually white (rarely pink); sepals similar to the subtending bracts; anthers dehiscing by 2 clefts across the top; stigmas glabrous
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3b. Inflorescence a raceme with 2–16 flowers; stems pubescent, yellow to light brown or pink to red; sepals not similar to the subtending bracts; anthers dehiscing by a single cleft; stigmas sparsely to densely villous around the margin
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2b. Plants with chlorophyll, the stems and capsules variously colored; leaves evident, though sometimes scale-like, photosynthetic
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4a. Herbaceous plants with leaves all basal
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5a. Flower solitary; petals widely spreading, forming a rotate corolla
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5b. Flowers borne in racemes; petals inwardly arching, forming a campanulate or subglobose corolla
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6a. Flowers borne in a secund raceme, with an actinomorphic corolla; petals bituberculate at the base; style straight, exserted beyond the petals, with a 10-lobed hypogynous disk at the base
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6b. Flowers borne on a spirally arranged raceme, with a weakly zygomorphic corolla (actinomorphic in P. minor); petals without tubercles; style either strongly curved and exserted beyond the petals or straight and about equaling the petals, lacking a 10-lobed hypogynous disk at the base
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4b. Woody or suffrutescent plants with alternate or opposite leaves
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7a. Leaf blades linear to narrow-elliptic, ca. 1 mm wide; perianth inconspicuous; stamens, when present, 2 or 4 per flower
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8a. Flowers on pedicels from the axils of leaves, with 3 sepals, 3 petals, usually 4 stamens, and usually 6–9 stigmas; fruit a fleshy drupe [Fig. 610]; leaf blades entire
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8b. Flowers in small, terminal clusters, with 3 or 4 sepals, 0 petals, 2 stamens (when present), and 2–5 stigmas (when present); fruit a dry drupe; leaf blades minutely denticulate
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7b. Leaf blades lanceolate, oblanceolate, elliptic-oblong, or elliptic-ovate to ovate, wider than 1 mm; perianth conspicuous; stamens 5–10 per flower
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9a. Leaves opposite, sometimes verticillate, serrate; stamens 10 per flower
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9b. Leaves alternate, entire; stamens 5–8 per flower
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10a. Corolla 4-merous, pink to red; leaf blades 8–18 mm long, glaborous or sparsely pubescent; flowers with 8 stamens; fruit a red berry (in part)
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10b. Corolla 5-merous, white; leaf blades 20–50 mm long, densely villous-tomentose on the abaxial surface; flowers with 5–7 stamens; fruit a septicidal capsule (in part)
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11a. Ovary inferior
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12a. Perianth 4-merous; plants low, commonly prostrate or trailing
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13a. Leaves glabrous; ovary wholly inferior; fruit a red or dark blue to black berry; plants without wintergreen odor (in part)
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13b. Leaves pubescent; ovary partly inferior; fruit a white berry; plants with wintergreen odor in life (in part)
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12b. Perianth 5-merous; plants ascending (depressed in extreme conditions)
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14a. Ovary 4- or 5-locular, with numerous ovules; leaves lacking resin dots and stipitate glands (in part)
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14b. Ovary 10-locular, with 10 ovules; leaves resin-dotted or stipitate-glandular [Fig. 612]
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11b. Ovary superior
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15a. Corolla campanulate to salverform or rotate, not constricted in the apical portion [Figs. 613,614,619]
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16a. Corolla rotate, 10-saccate, the anthers fitting in the corolla sacs and later springing forward [Fig. 614] (in part)
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16b. Corolla campanulate to salverform, not saccate
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17a. Perianth 4-merous; fruit a 4-locular capsule or berry
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18a. Leaves alternate; corolla deciduous; fruit a white berry; flowers with 4 stamens; subshrubs with prostrate, trailing stems, with wintergreen odor in life (in part)
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18b. Leaves opposite or in whorls of 3 or 4; corolla persistent; fruit a capsule; flowers with 8 stamens; shrubs with straggling to upright stems, without wintergreen odor
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19a. Leaves in whorls of 3 or 4 [Fig. 611], without basal auricles; calyx shorter than the corolla (in part)
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19b. Leaves opposite, the larger with 2 basal auricles; calyx much longer than the corolla
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17b. Perianth 5-merous; fruit a 2-, 3-, or 5-locular capsule
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20a. Leaf blades 2–4 mm long, bristle-like [Fig. 613]; stamens with spreading or deflexed spurs; plants with moss-like aspect
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20b. Leaf blades 3–200 mm long, broader, not resembling bristles; stamens lacking spurs; plants not resembling mosses
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21a. Leaf blades 3–8 mm long, opposite; corolla 3–5 mm long; fruit a capsule with 2 or 3 locules (in part)
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21b. Leaf blades 10–200 mm long, alternate; corolla 14–45 mm long; fruit a capsule (berry-like in Epigaea) with 5 locules
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22b. Calyx subtended by 2 bracts; corolla ± salverform; anthers opening by longitudinal slits; fruit a berry-like capsule; prostrate and trailing shrubs
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15b. Corolla globose, ovoid, urceolate, or tubular, slightly to strongly constricted in the apical portion [Figs. 608,611,616]
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23a. Leaves in whorls of 3 or 4; perianth 4-merous (in part)
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23b. Leaves alternate; perianth 5-merous
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24a. Non-photosynthetic plants with pink to red or red-brown (eventually brown), stipitate-glandular stems bearing scale-like leaves and a terminal raceme of flowers [Fig. 616]
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24b. Photosynthetic plants with green leaves, with or, more commonly, without stipitate glands, bearing various types of inflorescence
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25a. Calyx closely subtended by 2 bracteoles (i.e., the bracteoles overlapping the calyx much of their length); inflorescence a solitary flower from the axils of normal foliage leaves or from the axils of reduced, bract-like leaves
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26a. Calyx and abaxial surface of leaf blades lepidote-scaly; plants 30–150 cm tall; stamens without awns; plants without wintergreen odor; fruit a loculicidal capsule
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26b. Calyx and leaf blades without lepidote scales; plants up to 20 cm tall; each pollen sac of an anther with 2 awns; plants with wintergreen odor in life; fruit a red, berry-like capsule (in part)
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25b. Calyx not subtended by 2 bracteoles, though sometimes the associated pedicel may possess 2 bracteoles (these near the apex of the pedicel in Eubotrys); inflorescence composed of 2 or more flowers (sometimes a solitary flower in Phyllodoce)
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27a. Corolla purple; leaf blades 4–10 ×1–1.3 mm; pedicels stipitate-glandular
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27b. Corolla white to pink; leaf blades 10–150 ×2–50 mm; pedicels without stipitate glands
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28a. Inflorescence produced from the axils of leaves, laterally from the apex of the previous season’s branch, or distributed along leafless branches; anthers essentially lacking apical awns or each with 4 awns
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29a. Anthers with basal awns; flowers borne in umbel-like clusters from the axils of leaves or these distributed along leafless branches forming a compound, raceme-like or panicle-like inflorescence; sutures of capsule prior to dehiscence a broad, pale strip ca. 0.5 mm wide [Fig. 615]; winter buds with 2 scales
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29b. Anthers lacking awns; flowers borne in axillary racemes or laterally from the apex of the previous seasons branch; sutures of capsule prior to dehiscence a thin strip ca. 0.1 mm wide; winter buds with 3 or more scales
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30a. Leaf blades evergreen, coriaceous, lustrous; each pedicel with 2 bracteoles borne near the base
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30b. Leaf blades deciduous, membranaceous, dull; each pedicel with 2 bracteoles borne near the apex just below the calyx
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28b. Inflorescence terminal; anthers each with 2 apical awns (without apical awns in Pieris)
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31a. Corolla 5-saccate at base, the sacs alternating with the calyx lobes; inflorescence a panicle; leaf blades 10–25 mm wide
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31b. Corolla not 5-saccate at base; inflorescence a few-flowered raceme or umbel-like raceme; leaf blades 2–12 (–18) mm wide
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32a. Leaves pubescent on the abaxial surface, conspicuously revolute; sepals valvate in bud; fruit a loculicidal capsule
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32b. Leaves glabrous, with flat margins; sepals imbricate in bud; fruit a fleshy drupe
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33a. Leaf blades entire, persistent and living throughout the season, not conspicuously veiny, with unwinged petioles; branchlets pubescent; inflorescence with 5–12 flowers; drupes red; pyrenes partly or entirely concrescent
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Each photo represents one genus in this family.