The Ericaceae are a family of flowering plants, commonly known as the heath or heather family, found most commonly in acidic and infertile growing conditions. The family is large, with c. 4250 known species spread across 124 genera, making it the 14th most species-rich family of flowering plants. The many well known and economically important members of the Ericaceae include the cranberry, blueberry, huckleberry, rhododendron, and various common heaths and heathers.
Vaccinium is a common and widespread genus of shrubs or dwarf shrubs in the heath family (Ericaceae). The fruits of many species are eaten by humans and some are of commercial importance, including the cranberry, blueberry, bilberry (whortleberry), lingonberry (cowberry), and huckleberry. Like many other ericaceous plants, they are generally restricted to acidic soils.
Gaylussacia is a genus of about fifty species of flowering plants in the family Ericaceae, native to the Americas, where they occur in eastern North America and in South America in the Andes and the mountains of southeastern Brazil. Common English names include huckleberry and "dangleberry".
Muehlenbeckia or maidenhair is a genus of flowering plants in the family Polygonaceae. It is native to the borders of the Pacific, including South and North America, Papua New Guinea and Australasia. It has been introduced elsewhere, including Europe. Species vary in their growth habits, many being vines or shrubs. In some environments, rampant species can become weedy and difficult to eradicate.
Bonnetia is a genus of flowering plants in the family Bonnetiaceae. Most of the roughly 30 species are shrubs. The remaining species, all trees, are among the dominant species in the forest vegetation on the tepui plateaus of northern South America, such as B. roraimae on the summit of Mount Roraima.
Euplassa is a genus of flowering plants in the protea family. It is native to tropical South America, including Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Peru, Suriname, and Venezuela.
Archeria is a small genus of shrubs in the family Ericaceae. As currently circumscribed the group includes six species, all native to southern Australasia. Four of these are endemic to Tasmania, and the other two endemic to New Zealand.
Monotropoideae, sometimes referred to as monotropes, are a flowering plant subfamily in the family Ericaceae. Members of this subfamily are notable for their mycoheterotrophic and non-photosynthesizing or achlorophyllous characteristics.
Bassett Maguire was an American botanist, head curator of the New York Botanical Garden, and a leader of scientific expeditions to the Guyana Highlands in Brazil and Venezuela.
Bryanthus is a monotypic genus of ornamental plant in the flowering plant family Ericaceae, with the sole species Bryanthus musciformis, native to Japan, Kamchatka, and the Kuril Islands. The genus was created in 1769. In 2012, the new tribe Bryantheae was proposed based on genetic analysis, containing the genera Bryanthus and Ledothamnus.
Satyria is a genus of flowering plants in the blueberry tribe Vaccinieae, family Ericaceae, native to southern Mexico, Central America, and northern South America. It is closely related to Cavendishia.
Tapeinostemon is a genus of flowering plants in the family Gentianaceae, native to northern South America. It has microreticulate pollen grains, supporting its placement in the tribe Saccifolieae.
Themistoclesia is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Ericaceae.
Bejaria is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Ericaceae.
Didonica is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Ericaceae.
Maguireocharis is a monotypic genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Rubiaceae. It only contains one known species, Maguireocharis neblinaeSteyerm.
Notopora is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Ericaceae.
Orthaea is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Ericaceae.
Ochthocosmus is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Ixonanthaceae.
Epacridoideae is a subfamily of the family Ericaceae. The name StyphelioideaeSweet is also used. The subfamily contains around 35 genera and 545 species. Many species are found in Australasia, others occurring northwards through the Pacific to Southeast Asia, with a small number in South America.
