Rhododendron columbianum | |
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Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Clade: | Angiosperms |
Clade: | Eudicots |
Clade: | Asterids |
Order: | Ericales |
Family: | Ericaceae |
Genus: | Rhododendron |
Species: | R. columbianum |
Binomial name | |
Rhododendron columbianum | |
Synonyms [2] | |
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Rhododendron columbianum, commonly known as western Labrador tea, swamp tea, or muskeg tea, is a shrub that is widespread in the western United States and in western Canada, reported from British Columbia, Alberta, Washington, Oregon, Idaho, California, Montana, Wyoming, Utah, Nevada, and Colorado. It grows in wet places from sea level up to 3,500 m (11,000 ft). [2] It was formerly known as Ledum columbianum. Its origins date back to the late Pliocene. [3]
Rhododendron columbianum is a shrub up to 2 m (6 ft 7 in) tall, spreading by means of underground rhizomes. The evergreen leaves are ovate to lanceolate, fragrant when crushed. Flowers are white to cream, borne in groups of 10 to 35. [4] The leaves grow very close to the stalk and their bottoms bear tiny white hairs. [5]
Rhododendron columbianum was originally named Ledum columbianum, so it appears as its former name in many texts. In 2009 Kathleen A. Kron and Walter S. Judd deemed the morphology of genus Ledum alike enough to the Rhododendron genus to combine it into the larger Rhododendron genus. This taxonomic change resulted in the original name of Ledum columbianum being changed to Rhododendron columbianum. [6] Ledum columbianum was removed from the National Wetland Plant List in 2012, but re-added as Rhodedendron columbianum for the official 2013 list publication, where it still remains. [7] Currently, both Rhododendron columbianum and Rhododendron groenlandicum share the common name of Labrador tea. [8]
According to The Smithsonian Institution's Paleobotanical Library, a megafossil of R.columbianum was found in Washington and dated to the late Pliocene, along with five other Rhododendron species belonging to the Pliocene era. [9] The genetic crossing of R.groenlandicum and R.neoglandulosum results in R. columbianum. [10] Results from molecular and nuclear phylogenetic analyses indicate that R. columbianum and R. tolmachevii make up a clade most closesly related to R. groenlandicum, R. hypoleucum, and R. tomentosum. [11]
Rhododendron columbianum has been used medicinally as a tea astringent, diaphoretic, diuretic and laxative properties. The plant can, however, be toxic if the tea is allowed to steep too long. The fragrance of the leaves has also been shown useful in repelling insects and rodents. [12] [13]
The Ericales are a large and diverse order of dicotyledons. Species in this order have considerable commercial importance including for tea, persimmon, blueberry, kiwifruit, Brazil nuts, argan, and azalea. The order includes trees, bushes, lianas, and herbaceous plants. Together with ordinary autophytic plants, the Ericales include chlorophyll-deficient mycoheterotrophic plants and carnivorous plants.
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.
Rhododendron is a very large genus of about 1,024 species of woody plants in the heath family (Ericaceae). They can be either evergreen or deciduous. Most species are native to eastern Asia and the Himalayan region, but smaller numbers occur elsewhere in Asia, and in North America, Europe and Australia.
Labrador tea is a common name for three closely related plant species in the genus Rhododendron as well as a herbal tea made from their leaves.
Ledum was a genus in the family Ericaceae, including eight species of evergreen shrub native to cool temperate and subarctic regions of the Northern Hemisphere and commonly known as Labrador tea. It is now recognised as a subsection of section Rhododendron, subgenus Rhododendron, of the genus Rhododendron.
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".
Rhododendron groenlandicum is a flowering shrub with white flowers and evergreen leaves that is used to make a herbal tea.
Rhododendron tomentosum, commonly known as marsh Labrador tea, northern Labrador tea or wild rosemary, is a flowering plant in the subsection Ledum of the large genus Rhododendron in the family Ericaceae.
Rhododendron section Tsutsusi was a subgenus of the genus Rhododendron, commonly referred to as the evergreen azaleas. In 2005 it was reduced to a section of subgenus Azaleastrum. Containing 80 - 117 species, it includes both deciduous and evergreen types and is distributed in Japan, China and northeastern Asia. They are of high cultural importance to the Japanese. Among the species in this genus lie the largest flowering azaleas.
Monotropastrum is a small genus of myco-heterotrophic plants in the family Ericaceae. As currently circumscribed the group includes two species.
Ledol is a poisonous sesquiterpene that can cause cramps, paralysis, and delirium. Caucasian peasants used Rhododendron plants for these effects in shamanistic rituals.
Rhododendron subsection Brachycalyx is a subsection of the genus Rhododendron, in section Tsutsusi, subgenus Azaleastrum, consisting of fifteen species of azaleas from Asia.
Rhododendron subsection Tsutsusi is a subsection of the genus Rhododendron, in section Tsutsusi, subgenus Azaleastrum, consisting of 66 species of Azaleas.
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.
Chrysomyxa nagodhii is a species of rust fungus in the family Coleosporiaceae. It was described as new to science by Canadian mycologist Patricia E. Crane in 2001. It probably occurs throughout the range of Ledum decumbens and Rhododendron groenlandicum. On Picea, spermogonia and aecia occur on distinct rusty yellow bands on current-year needles.
Kathleen Anne Kron is a retired biology professor from Wake Forest University. She is known for her research on Ericaceae, a family of flowering plants.
Leohumicola verrucosa is a heat-resistant, endophytic, ericoid mycorrhizal soil fungus. Its species name refers to rough, warty or spine-like ornamentations on its aleurioconidia. L. verrucosa was first described from samples of soil exposed to fire; among these it was especially abundant in regularly burned blueberry fields in eastern Canada. L. verrucosa forms mycorrhizal relationships with a wide variety and distribution of species in the Ericaceae family.
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