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Pyrola
Family: Ericaceae
Pyrola image
Max Licher  
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Craig C. Freeman in Flora of North America (vol. 8)
Herbs, chlorophyllous, autotrophic (achlorophyllous and heterotrophic in forms of P. chlorantha and P. picta). Stems erect, glabrous. Leaves essentially basal or, sometimes, highly reduced or absent (P. chlorantha, P. picta), alternate; petiole present; blade maculate or not, elliptic, ovate-elliptic, oblong-elliptic, oblanceolate, oblong-obovate, ovate, obovate, spatulate, subreniform, reniform, or round, subcoriaceous to coriaceous, margins entire, denticulate, crenulate, crenate, or crenate-serrulate, plane or revolute, surfaces glabrous. Inflorescences racemes, usually erect in flower and fruit, (symmetric); peduncular bracts present or absent; inflorescence bracts free from pedicels. Pedicels pendent in fruit; bracteoles absent. Flowers radially symmetric (bilaterally symmetric in P. minor), spreading or nodding; sepals 5, connate proximally, often obscurely so, calyx lobes lanceolate, ovate, triangular, deltate, oblong, or obovate; petals 5, distinct, white, greenish white, yellowish white, pink, or purplish red, without basal tubercles, corolla crateriform to broadly campanulate; intrastaminal nectary disc absent; stamens 10, exserted; filaments broad proximally, gradually narrowed medially, slender distally, glabrous; anthers oblong, without awns, with or without tubules, dehiscent by 2 round to elliptic or obovate pores; pistil 5-carpellate; ovary imperfectly 5-locular; placentation intruded-parietal; style (exserted or included), bent downward or straight (P. minor), expanded distally; stigma 5-lobed, without subtending ring of hairs. Fruits capsular, pendulous, dehiscence loculicidal, cobwebby tissue exposed by splitting valves at dehiscence. Seeds ca. 1000, fusiform, winged. x = 23. The apparent absence of strong genetic discontinuities within many species complexes, as well as morphologic and cytologic uniformity, have challenged attempts to delimit species in Pyrola. Chromosome counts for all species are diploid (2n = 46) except for the boreal European species P. media, which is a tetraploid (2n = 92), and some triploid counts (2n = 69) for P. grandiflora. Natural hybrids have been reported widely. Some species complexes have been examined in detail; a modern, comprehensive monograph of the genus is needed. Of particular interest in the flora area are relationships among members of sect. Pyrola, which includes, among other species, North American P. americana, amphi-Pacific P. asarifolia, arctic and circumpolar P. grandiflora, and Eurasian P. rotundifolia Linnaeus. J. V. Freudenstein (1999b) found limited cladistic structure in Pyrola. Morphologic and molecular data support a clade comprising P. chlorantha and P. picta (including P. aphylla). Molecular data suggest that this clade is sister to one comprising P. elliptica and P. minor. Pyrola americana, P. asarifolia, P. chlorantha, P. elliptica, and P. picta have a variety of drug, food, and ceremonial uses among a dozen tribes of Native Americans (D. E. Moerman 1998).

JANAS 26(1)
PLANT: Perennial rhizomatous, scapose herbs. LEAVES: alternate, in basal clusters of one to several year's growth. SCAPES with bud scales at base and one to several bracts along scape; inflorescences glabrous symmetric bracteate racemes. FLOWERS: actinomorphic, drooping, and bell-like (P. minor), or zygomorphic, bowl-like; petals without basal tubercles on upper surfaces, the upper two generally forming a hood over the upturned stamens; filaments tapered from base, glabrous; anther sacs mainly with tubes, each opening by a pore; pollen grains in tetrads; disk absent; style short, straight, included, or elongate, downward curved, exserted; stigma peltate, the style apex forming a reflexed collar, the collar enlarged, with 5 radiate lobes (P. minor), or small, with 5 erect, finger-like lobes. FRUITS: 5-locular drooping capsules with a depressed center and fibers connecting opened valves. x = 23. NOTES: About 15 spp. worldwide, mainly in north temperate regions; 6 spp. in North America. (Diminutive of Pyrus, pear, from vague similarity in leaves). Haber, E. 1972. Rhodora 74:396 397; Haber, E. 1984. Canad. J. Bot. 62:1054 1061; Haber, E. 1987. Syst. Bot. 12:324 335. REFERENCES: Haber, Erich. 1992. Pyrolaceae. Ariz.-Nev. Acad. Sci. 26(1)2.
Vascular plants of NE US and adjacent Canada
Pet 5; filaments elongate, slender; anthers subapically attached, opening by terminal pores, the pollen sacs often prolonged above into short tubes; style ±elongate; capsule opening from the base upward; rhizomatous herbs, the few broad, petiolate lvs nearly basal, persistent throughout the winter (rarely the lvs suppressed); fls in an erect, terminal, long-peduncled raceme. 40/N. Temp.

Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.

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Show all taxa
Pyrola americana
Image of Pyrola americana
Pyrola angustifolia
Image of Pyrola angustifolia
Pyrola aphylla
Image of Pyrola aphylla
Pyrola asarifolia
Image of Pyrola asarifolia
Pyrola borealis
Image of Pyrola borealis
Pyrola bracteata
Image of Pyrola bracteata
Pyrola californica
Image of Pyrola californica
Pyrola canadensis
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not available
Pyrola chlorantha
Image of Pyrola chlorantha
Pyrola crypta
Image of Pyrola crypta
Pyrola decorata
Image of Pyrola decorata
Pyrola dentata
Image of Pyrola dentata
Pyrola elata
Image of Pyrola elata
Pyrola elliptica
Image of Pyrola elliptica
Pyrola gormanii
Image of Pyrola gormanii
Pyrola grandiflora
Image of Pyrola grandiflora
Pyrola media
Image of Pyrola media
Pyrola minor
Image of Pyrola minor
Pyrola obovata
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not available
Pyrola occidentalis
Image of Pyrola occidentalis
Pyrola picta
Image of Pyrola picta
Pyrola rotundifolia
Image of Pyrola rotundifolia
Pyrola uliginosa
Image of Pyrola uliginosa
The National Science Foundation
Developments of SEINet, Symbiota, and associated specimen databases have been supported by National Science Foundation Grants (DBI 9983132, BRC 0237418, DBI 0743827, DBI 0847966)