Ericaceae

Today’s 'plant' of the day is one of my favorite families, the Ericaceae. Blueberry bushes are among the 4000 species included in the Ericaceae. Other familiar plants like cranberries and rhododendrons are also found here. The family is worldwide in distribution, but its center of diversity is in the American tropics. Most members of this group are small bushes or shrubs that do well on acidic soils. The flowers often have a bell or urn shape. Leaves are often small and thick, adapted for dry conditions.

The plants pictured here are from Costa Rica. They grow above 3000m altitude (9000 feet) and are often pollinated by hummingbirds or bumble bees (usually Bombus epiphiatus - a VERY cute bee, but that's a whole other story...)

Ericaceae are most diverse in the Andes, with the highest species numbers in Colombia and Ecuador between 1000m and 3000m (Luteyn 2002). 70% of the genera and 94% of the species of Ericaceae are native to the Neotropics.

One remarkable aspect of Ericaceae is their symbiotic relationship with mycorrhizal fungi. In the case of Andean Ericaceae, the fungi are mostly basidiomycetes. They form a sheath around fine rootlets and aid the plant in deriving nutrients from poor, acidic soils (Setaro et al 2008).

The first photo on this post is wild blueberry (Vacinium sp.) from the paramo of Costa Rica. The second photo is Pernettia sp., also found on the paramo. It is smaller than Vacinium and produces tiny red fruits that are edible and taste great.

References:
Luteyn, JL. 2002. Diversity, adaptation and endemism in the neotropical Ericaceae: biogeographical patterns in the vacciniaea. Botanical Review. 68(1):55-87.

Setaro, Sabrina, Kathleen Kron and Ingrid Kottke. 2008. Neotropical Ericaceae and their mycorrhizal fungi. Botany Without Borders. University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC. July 26-30.