The Ericales are a large and diverse order of dicotyledons. Species in this order have considerable commercial importance including for tea,

persimmon The persimmon is the edible fruit of a number of species of trees in the genus ''Diospyros''. The most widely cultivated of these is the Oriental persimmon, '' Diospyros kaki'' ''Diospyros'' is in the family Ebenaceae, and a number of non-pe ...

, blueberry,

kiwifruit Kiwifruit (often shortened to kiwi in North American, British and continental European English) or Chinese gooseberry is the edible berry of several species of woody vines in the genus '' Actinidia''. The most common cultivar group of kiwifr ...

Brazil nut The Brazil nut (''Bertholletia excelsa'') is a South American tree in the family Lecythidaceae, and it is also the name of the tree's commercially harvested edible seeds. It is one of the largest and longest-lived trees in the Amazon rainforest ...

s, argan, and azalea. The order includes

tree In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, including only woody plants with secondary growth, plants that are ...

s, bushes,

liana A liana is a long- stemmed, woody vine that is rooted in the soil at ground level and uses trees, as well as other means of vertical support, to climb up to the canopy in search of direct sunlight. The word ''liana'' does not refer to a ...

s, and

herbaceous Herbaceous plants are vascular plants that have no persistent woody stems above ground. This broad category of plants includes many perennials, and nearly all annuals and biennials. Definitions of "herb" and "herbaceous" The fourth edition ...

plants. Together with ordinary autophytic plants, the Ericales include

chlorophyll Chlorophyll (also chlorophyl) is any of several related green pigments found in cyanobacteria and in the chloroplasts of algae and plants. Its name is derived from the Greek words , ("pale green") and , ("leaf"). Chlorophyll allow plants to ...

-deficient mycoheterotrophic plants (e.g., ''

Sarcodes sanguinea ''Sarcodes'' is the monotypic genus of a north-west American flowering springtime plant in the heath family ( Ericaceae), containing the single species ''Sarcodes sanguinea'', commonly called the snow plant or snow flower. It is a parasitic plant ...

'') and

carnivorous plant Carnivorous plants are plants that derive some or most of their nutrients from trapping and consuming animals or protozoans, typically insects and other arthropods. Carnivorous plants still generate some of their energy from photosynthesis. Ca ...

s (e.g., genus '' Sarracenia''). Many species have five petals, often grown together. Fusion of the petals as a trait was traditionally used to place the order in the subclass Sympetalae. Mycorrhizal associations are quite common among the order representatives, and three kinds of mycorrhiza are found exclusively among Ericales (namely, ericoid, arbutoid and monotropoid mycorrhiza). In addition, some families among the order are notable for their exceptional ability to accumulate

aluminum Aluminium (aluminum in American and Canadian English) is a chemical element with the symbol Al and atomic number 13. Aluminium has a density lower than those of other common metals, at approximately one third that of steel. It h ...

. Ericales are a cosmopolitan order. Areas of distribution of families vary largely - while some are restricted to tropics, others exist mainly in Arctic or temperate regions. The entire order contains over 8,000 species, of which the Ericaceae account for 2,000-4,000 species (by various estimates).

Economic importance

The most commercially used plant in the order is tea (''Camellia sinensis'') from the family Theaceae. The order also includes some edible fruits, including

(esp. '' Actinidia deliciosa''),

(genus ''Diospyros''), blueberry,

huckleberry Huckleberry is a name used in North America for several plants in the family Ericaceae, in two closely related genera: ''Vaccinium'' and ''Gaylussacia''. The huckleberry is the state fruit of Idaho. Nomenclature The name 'huckleberry' is a Nort ...

cranberry Cranberries are a group of evergreen dwarf shrubs or trailing vines in the subgenus ''Oxycoccus'' of the genus '' Vaccinium''. In Britain, cranberry may refer to the native species '' Vaccinium oxycoccos'', while in North America, cranber ...

, and Mamey sapote. The order also includes shea (''Vitellaria paradoxa''), which is the major dietary lipid source for millions of sub-Saharan Africans. Many Ericales species are cultivated for their showy flowers: well-known examples are azalea,

rhododendron ''Rhododendron'' (; from Ancient Greek ''rhódon'' "rose" and ''déndron'' "tree") 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 nativ ...

camellia ''Camellia'' (pronounced or ) is a genus of flowering plants in the family Theaceae. They are found in eastern and southern Asia, from the Himalayas east to Japan and Indonesia. There are more than 220 described species, with some controvers ...

, heather, polyanthus,

cyclamen ''Cyclamen'' ( or ) is a genus of 23 species of perennial flowering plants in the family Primulaceae. ''Cyclamen'' species are native to Europe and the Mediterranean Basin east to the Caucasus and Iran, with one species in Somalia. They gro ...

, phlox, and busy Lizzie.

Gallery of photos

Balsam I IMG 9566.jpg, '' Impatiens balsamina'' Primula rosea I IMG 7210.jpg, ''

Primula rosea ''Primula rosea'', the rosy primrose, is a flowering plant species in the genus ''Primula'', native to the Himalayas. Growing to tall, it is a hardy herbaceous perennial with red-tinged leaves and clumps of rich pink flowers in spring. In cult ...

'' from the Primulaceae

Classification

These families are recognized in the

APG III system The APG III system of flowering plant classification is the third version of a modern, mostly molecular-based, system of plant taxonomy being developed by the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group (APG). Published in 2009, it was superseded in 2016 by a fu ...

as members of the Ericales: * Family Actinidiaceae (

family) * Family Balsaminaceae (

balsam Balsam is the resinous exudate (or sap) which forms on certain kinds of trees and shrubs. Balsam (from Latin balsamum "gum of the balsam tree", ultimately from Semitic, Aramaic ''busma'', Arabic ''balsam'' and Hebrew ''basam'', "spice", "perfume ...

family)

* Family Clethraceae ( clethra family) * Family Cyrillaceae ( cyrilla family) * Family

Diapensiaceae Diapensiaceae is a small family of flowering plants, which includes 15 species in 6 genera. The genera include '' Berneuxia'' Decne. (1 species), ''Diapensia'' L. (5 species), '' Galax'' Sims (1 species), ''Pyxidanthera'' Michx. (2 species), ' ...

* Family

Ebenaceae The Ebenaceae are a family of flowering plants belonging to order Ericales. The family includes ebony and persimmon among about 768 species of trees and shrubs. It is distributed across the tropical and warmer temperate regions of the world. It ...

(

ebony Ebony is a dense black/brown hardwood, coming from several species in the genus '' Diospyros'', which also contains the persimmons. Unlike most woods, ebony is dense enough to sink in water. It is finely textured and has a mirror finish when ...

and

family) * Family Ericaceae (

heath A heath () is a shrubland habitat found mainly on free-draining infertile, acidic soils and characterised by open, low-growing woody vegetation. Moorland is generally related to high-ground heaths with—especially in Great Britain—a cooler ...

, and blueberry family) * Family

Fouquieria ''Fouquieria'' is a genus of 11 species of desert plants, the sole genus in the Family (biology), family Fouquieriaceae. The genus includes the ocotillo (''Fouquieria splendens, F. splendens'') and the Boojum tree or cirio (''Fouquieria columnar ...

ceae ( ocotillo family) * Family

Lecythidaceae The Lecythidaceae comprise a family of about 20 genera and 250–300 species of woody plants native to tropical South America, Africa (including Madagascar), Asia and Australia. The most important member of the family in world trade is the B ...

(

family) * Family Marcgraviaceae * Family Mitrastemonaceae * Family

Pentaphylacaceae The Pentaphylacaceae are a small family of plants within the order Ericales. In the APG III system of 2009, it includes the former family Ternstroemiaceae. Genera In 2014, the Angiosperm Phylogeny Website included 14 genera in the family: Plant ...

* Family Polemoniaceae ( phlox family) * Family Primulaceae ( primrose and snowbell family) * Family Roridulaceae * Family

Sapotaceae 240px, '' Madhuca longifolia'' var. ''latifolia'' in Narsapur, Medak district, India The Sapotaceae are a family (biology), family of flowering plants belonging to the order (biology), order Ericales. The family includes about 800 species of ev ...

( sapodilla family) * Family Sarraceniaceae (American

pitcher plant Pitcher plants are several different carnivorous plants which have modified leaves known as pitfall traps—a prey-trapping mechanism featuring a deep cavity filled with digestive liquid. The traps of what are considered to be "true" pitcher p ...

family) * Family

Sladeniaceae Sladeniaceae is a family of flowering plants containing tree species found in subtropical to tropical environments in East Africa ('' Ficalhoa''), Burma, Yunnan, and Thailand ('' Sladenia''). The family consists of trees with alternate, sim ...

* Family Styracaceae ( silverbell family) * Family

Symplocaceae Symplocaceae is a family of flowering plants in the order Ericales, including two genera, ''Symplocos ''Symplocos'' is a genus of flowering plants in the order Ericales. It contains about 300 species distributed in Asia and the Americas. Many ...

(sapphireberry family) * Family Tetrameristaceae * Family Theaceae ( tea and

family) Likely phylogenetic relationships between the families of the Ericales:

Previously included families

These families are not recognized in the

but have been in common use in the recent past: * Family Myrsinaceae (

and scarlet pimpernel family) → Primulaceae * Family Pellicieraceae → Tetrameristaceae * Family Maesaceae → Primulaceae * Family Ternstroemiaceae → Pentaphylacaceae * Family Theophrastaceae → Primulaceae These make up an early diverging group of

asterid In the APG IV system (2016) for the classification of flowering plants, the name asterids denotes a clade (a monophyletic group). Asterids is the largest group of flowering plants, with more than 80,000 species, about a third of the total flower ...

s. Under the

Cronquist system The Cronquist system is a taxonomic classification system of flowering plants. It was developed by Arthur Cronquist in a series of monographs and texts, including ''The Evolution and Classification of Flowering Plants'' (1968; 2nd edition, 1988) ...

, the Ericales included a smaller group of plants, which were placed among the Dilleniidae: * Family Ericaceae * Family Cyrillaceae * Family Clethraceae * Family Grubbiaceae * Family Empetraceae * Family

Epacridaceae 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 th ...

* Family Pyrolaceae * Family Monotropaceae

References

Bibliography