Scale heaths

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Scale heaths
Blooming square heather (Cassiope tetragona) on Svalbard

Blooming square heather ( Cassiope tetragona ) on Svalbard

Systematics
Nuclear eudicotyledons
Asterids
Order : Heather-like (Ericales)
Family : Heather family (Ericaceae)
Subfamily : Cassiopoideae
Genre : Scale heaths
Scientific name of the  subfamily
Cassiopoideae
Kron & Judd
Scientific name of the  genus
Cassiope
D. Don
Bärlappähnliche Schuppenheide ( Cassiope lycopodioides )
Mertens-Schuppenheide ( Cassiope mertensiana ): The bell-shaped flowers stand individually on the branch, which appears to be square thanks to the four-row, scaly leaves

The Schuppenheiden ( Cassiope ) are the only plant genus of the subfamily Cassiopoideae within the family of the heather plants (Ericaceae).

description

The Cassiope species grow as "erikoide", evergreen shrubs or dwarf shrubs . The branched branches are prostrate or ascending. The closely spaced leaves are opposite to each other on the branches and are usually arranged in four distinct rows; this makes the branches look square. The sessile leaves are scaly, leathery and often pointed. The flat or outwardly curled leaf blades have a smooth or fringed to ciliate leaf margin and no discernible leaf veins.

The small hairs (trichomes) are bundled-branched only in this genus within the Ericaceae. It is the only genus within the Ericaceae that has a bisporic embryo sac of the Polygonum type.

The flowers stand individually in the leaf axils on more or less long flower stalks; sometimes a two-flowered inflorescence also arises at the end of the branch. There are four to six bracts available. The hanging flowers are hermaphroditic, radial symmetry and (rarely four) mostly five-fold. The five free sepals are scale-shaped; they also surround the fruit. The five white to pink petals are fused together like a bell, with five bent back corolla lobes. At the base of the flower there are nectar glands . The ten stamens do not protrude beyond the petals. The upright stamens are flattened. The egg-shaped anthers have two long horns bent back (appendages). The five carpels have become a top permanent ovary grown with many ovules .

The five compartments of the capsule fruit each have two columns at their tips. It opens with five teeth at maturity and releases a multitude of seeds. The tiny seeds have no wings.

Occurrence

The genus Cassiope , which occurs only in the northern hemisphere, has a mainly circumboreal distribution. Their total distribution area extends south to China , the Himalayas , Japan , Russia and western North America . There are eleven species in China; six of them are endemic there .

Systematics

The genus Cassiope was founded in 1834 by David Don in the Edinburgh New Philos. Journal, 17, page 157. Type species is Cassiope tetragona (L.) D.Don . Cassiope is the only genus of the only tribe Cassiopeae HTCox ex Stevens of the subfamily Cassiopoideae Kron & Judd within the family of the heather plants (Ericaceae).

species

There are around 12 to 17 species of Cassiope :

  • Cassiope abbreviata Hand.-Mazz. : It occurs in Sichuan at altitudes between 3800 and 4000 meters.
  • Cassiope argyrotricha T.Z.Hsu : It occurs in northwestern Yunnan at altitudes between 3000 and 4400 meters.
  • Cassiope fastigiata (Wall.) D.Don : It occurs in India, Bhutan, Nepal, Yunnan and Xizang.
  • Cassiope fujianensis L.K. Ling & GSHoo : It occurs in Fujian .
  • Bärlappähnliche Schuppenheide ( Cassiope lycopodioides (Pall.) D.Don ): It occurs in Japan, in Far Eastern Asiatic Russia, in Alaska and in British Columbia.
  • Cassiope membranifolia C. Fang : It occurs in northwestern Yunnan.
  • Mertens-Schuppenheide ( Cassiope mertensiana (Bong.) G.Don ): It occurs in Alaska, in western Canada and in the western United States.
  • Cassiope myosuroides W.W.Sm. : It occurs in Myanmar and northwestern Yunnan at altitudes between 4000 and 4500 meters.
  • Cassiope nana T.Z.Hsu : It occurs in northwestern Yunnan at altitudes between 2000 and 3800 meters.
  • Cassiope palpebrata W.W.Sm. : It occurs in Myanmar and northwestern Yunnan at altitudes between 3000 and 4300 meters.
  • Cassiope pectinata Stapf : It occurs in Myanmar, in southwest Sichuan, in eastern Xizang and in northwestern Yunnan at altitudes between 3600 and 4100 meters.
  • Cassiope selaginoides Hook. f. & Thomson : It occurs in Bhutan, Nepal, Xizang, Sichuan and Yunnan.
  • Square heather ( Cassiope tetragona (L.) D.Don ): It occurs in Alaska, Canada, Montana, Washington, Iceland, Norway, Finland, Spitzbergen, Jan Mayen and Russia.
  • Cassiope wardii C. Marquand : It occurs in southeastern Xizang at altitudes between 3900 and 4200 meters.

No longer belong to the genus:

use

Some species are rarely used as ornamental plants.

swell

  • Fang Ruizheng & Peter F. Stevens: Cassiope in the Flora of China, Volume 14, p. 456: Online.
  • Cassiopoideae in the Ericaceae homepage of Kathleen A. Kron.
  • Kathleen A. Kron, Walter S. Judd, PF Stevens, DM Crayn, AA Anderberg, PA Gadek, CJ Quinn, & JL Luteyn: A phylogenetic classification of the Ericaceae: Molecular and morphological evidence. , Bot. Rev., 68, 2002, pp. 335-423.

Individual evidence

  1. Fang Ruizheng & Peter F. Stevens: Cassiope in the Flora of China, Volume 14, p. 456: Online.
  2. a b c d e f Cassiope in the Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN), USDA , ARS , National Genetic Resources Program. National Germplasm Resources Laboratory, Beltsville, Maryland. Retrieved October 11, 2017.
  3. a b c d e f g h i Fang Ruizheng (方 瑞 征 Fang Rhui-cheng); Peter F. Stevens: Cassiope D.Don , pp. 36-38 - online with the same text as the printed work , In: Wu Zheng-yi, Peter H. Raven, Deyuan Hong (ed.): Flora of China. Volume 14: Ericaceae. Science Press and Missouri Botanical Garden Press, Beijing and St. Louis 2010
  4. Kathleen A. Kron, Walter S. Judd, PF Stevens, DM Crayn, AA Anderberg, PA Gadek, CJ Quinn, & JL Luteyn: A phylogenetic classification of the Ericaceae: Molecular and morphological evidence. , Bot. Rev., 68, 2002, pp. 335-423.

Web links

Commons : Schuppenheiden  - Collection of images, videos and audio files