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21-484: The Kalmiopsis Wilderness was named for Kalmiopsis leachiana , a slow-growing plant related to the rhododendron , which was discovered in the area in 1930. Historically, the Kalmiopsis Wilderness was a mining district. Gold was discovered about 1850, causing a gold rush into the area. A number of mining towns were built and more than a dozen hard rock mines were started. Many people lived there up into

42-459: A healthy mycorrhizal network in the soil helps the plants to resist environmental stresses that might otherwise damage crop yield. Ericoid mycorrhizae are responsible for a high rate of uptake of nitrogen, which causes naturally low levels of free nitrogen in ericoid soils. These mycorrhizal fungi may also increase the tolerance of Ericaceae to heavy metals in soil, and may cause plants to grow faster by producing phytohormones . In many parts of

63-486: A morphologically diverse range of taxa, including herbs , dwarf shrubs , shrubs , and trees . Their leaves are usually evergreen , alternate or whorled, simple and without stipules . Their flowers are hermaphrodite and show considerable variability. The petals are often fused ( sympetalous ) with shapes ranging from narrowly tubular to funnelform or widely urn-shaped. The corollas are usually radially symmetrical ( actinomorphic ) and urn-shaped, but many flowers of

84-411: A star-like calyx and five conjoined petals ; each flower is 1.5–2 cm diameter. The fruit is a five-lobed capsule, which splits to release the numerous small seeds . This Ericaceae article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Ericaceae The Ericaceae ( / ˌ ɛr ɪ ˈ k eɪ s i . aɪ , - iː / ) are a family of flowering plants , commonly known as

105-774: Is a rare flowering plant endemic to the Siskiyou Mountains of southwest Oregon , where it is specially protected in the 179,755-acre (727.4 km ) Kalmiopsis Wilderness reserve. It was discovered in 1930 by Lilla Leach in the Gold Basin area. It is related to Kalmia in the family Ericaceae . Kalmiopsis leachiana is an evergreen shrub growing to 10–30 centimetres (0.33–0.98 ft) tall, with erect stems bearing spirally arranged simple leaves 2–3 cm long and 1 cm broad. The flowers are pink-purple, in racemes of 6–9 together, reminiscent of small Rhododendron flowers but flatter, with

126-677: Is also typical of peat bogs and blanket bogs; examples include Rhododendron groenlandicum and species in the genus Kalmia . In eastern North America , members of this family often grow in association with an oak canopy, in a habitat known as an oak-heath forest . Plants in Ericaceae, especially species in Vaccinium , rely on buzz pollination for successful pollination to occur. The majority of ornamental species from Rhododendron are native to East Asia , but most varieties cultivated today are hybrids. Most rhododendrons grown in

147-640: Is characterized by deep, rough canyons, sharp rock ridges, and clear, rushing mountain streams and rivers. The wilderness includes the headwater basins of the Chetco , North Fork Smith Rivers, as well as part of the Illinois River canyon. All three of these rivers have been designated Wild and Scenic . The Kalmiopsis Wilderness is part of the Klamath Mountain geologic province of northwestern California and southwestern Oregon. The eastern half

168-683: Is not found in the Clethraceae and Cyrillaceae , the two families most closely related to the Ericaceae. Most Ericaceae (excluding the Monotropoideae, and some Epacridoideae) form a distinctive accumulation of mycorrhizae , in which fungi grow in and around the roots and provide the plant with nutrients. The Pyroloideae are mixotrophic and gain sugars from the mycorrhizae, as well as nutrients. The cultivation of blueberries, cranberries, and wintergreen for their fruit and oils relies especially on these unique relationships with fungi, as

189-776: Is part of the Josephine "ultramafic" sheet, meaning it has a very high iron and magnesium content. The western half of the Wilderness is underlain by the sedimentary rocks of the Dothan formation and by the igneous intrusive rocks of the Big Craggies. Most of the rocks in this province were formerly parts of the oceanic crust, and include serpentine , submarine volcanic flow rocks, intrusive granite-like rocks, and sedimentary rocks such as shale and sandstone . Historic mine sites for gold and chromite can still be found in

210-538: The heath or heather family , found most commonly in acidic and infertile growing conditions. The family is large, with about 4,250 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 (including azaleas ), and various common heaths and heathers ( Erica , Cassiope , Daboecia , and Calluna for example). The Ericaceae contain

231-824: The United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Germany, Spain, Portugal, and other countries in Central and Western Europe. The most common examples of plants in Ericaceae which dominate heathlands are Calluna vulgaris , Erica cineria , Erica tetralix , and Vaccinium myrtillus . In heathland, plants in Ericaceae serve as host plants to the butterfly Plebejus argus . Other insects, such as Saturnia pavonia , Myrmeleotettix maculatus , Metrioptera brachyptera , and Picromerus bidens are closely associated with heathland environments. Reptiles thrive in heaths due to an abundance of sunlight and prey, and birds hunt

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252-1051: The United States are cultivated in the Pacific Northwest . The United States is the top producer of both blueberries and cranberries, with the state of Maine growing the majority of lowbush blueberry . The wide distribution of genera within Ericaceae has led to situations in which there are both American and European plants with the same name, e.g. blueberry ( Vaccinium corymbosum in North America and V.   myrtillus in Europe) and cranberry ( V.   macrocarpon in America and V.   oxycoccos in Europe). Like other stress-tolerant plants, many Ericaceae have mycorrhizal fungi to assist with extracting nutrients from infertile soils , as well as evergreen foliage to conserve absorbed nutrients. This trait

273-466: The form of cabin sites, mines, and ditches. Diversity of topography and geology provide excellent habitat for a wide variety of botanical species. The Kalmiopsis leachiana plant was discovered in 1930 by Lilla Leach in the Gold Basin area. The plant is a relict of the pre-ice age and the oldest member of the Ericaceae Family, and is the namesake of the Kalmiopsis Wilderness. In 2002,

294-560: The genus Rhododendron are somewhat bilaterally symmetrical ( zygomorphic ). Anthers open by pores. Michel Adanson used the term Vaccinia to describe a similar family, but Antoine Laurent de Jussieu first used the term Ericaceae. The name comes from the type genus Erica , which appears to be derived from the Greek word ereíkē ( ἐρείκη ). The exact meaning is difficult to interpret, but some sources show it as meaning 'heather'. The name may have been used informally to refer to

315-523: The group. One possible classification of the resulting family includes 9 subfamilies, 126 genera, and about 4,000 species: The Ericaceae have a nearly worldwide distribution. They are absent from continental Antarctica , parts of the high Arctic , central Greenland , northern and central Australia , and much of the lowland tropics and neotropics . The family is largely composed of plants that can tolerate acidic, infertile, shady conditions. Due to their tolerance of acidic conditions, this plant family

336-536: The mid-1940s. In 1962, many of the homes and stores were still habitable and all the mining equipment and buildings were still in place. The wilderness area was established in 1964. In 2002, lightning started the Biscuit Fire that burned much of the area and damaged many of the hiking trails. Some of the trails destroyed in the fire re-opened in 2015. Elevations in Kalmiopsis Wilderness range from 500 to 5,098 feet (152 to 1,554 m), at Pearsoll Peak. The area

357-438: The monogeneric tribe Diplarcheae. In 2002, systematic research resulted in the inclusion of the formerly recognised families Empetraceae, Epacridaceae, Monotropaceae, Prionotaceae, and Pyrolaceae into the Ericaceae based on a combination of molecular, morphological, anatomical, and embryological data, analysed within a phylogenetic framework. The move significantly increased the morphological and geographical range found within

378-500: The nearly 500,000-acre (200,000 ha) Biscuit Fire burned the entire wilderness area. The environment has changed dramatically and provides a unique opportunity to observe a natural response to fire disturbance through plant succession, erosional and depositional occurrences and changed habitat for flora and fauna. The Chetco Bar Fire re-burned large portions of the area in 2017. Kalmiopsis leachiana Kalmiopsis leachiana , commonly referred to as Siskiyou kalmiopsis ,

399-478: The plants before Linnaean times, and simply been formalised when Linnaeus described Erica in 1753, and then again when Jussieu described the Ericaceae in 1789. Historically, the Ericaceae included both subfamilies and tribes. In 1971, Stevens, who outlined the history from 1876 and in some instances 1839, recognised six subfamilies (Rhododendroideae, Ericoideae , Vaccinioideae , Pyroloideae , Monotropoideae , and Wittsteinioideae), and further subdivided four of

420-489: The subfamilies into tribes, the Rhododendroideae having seven tribes (Bejarieae, Rhodoreae, Cladothamneae, Epigaeae, Phyllodoceae, and Diplarcheae). Within tribe Rhodoreae, five genera were described, Rhododendron L. (including Azalea L. pro parte), Therorhodion Small, Ledum L., Tsusiophyllum Max., Menziesia J. E. Smith, that were eventually transferred into Rhododendron , along with Diplarche from

441-464: The world, a "heath" or "heathland" is an environment characterised by an open dwarf- shrub community found on low-quality acidic soils, generally dominated by plants in Ericaceae. Heathlands are a broadly anthropogenic habitat, requiring regular grazing or burning to prevent succession. Heaths are particularly abundant – and constitute important cultural elements – in Norway,

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