Eubotrys

Nuttall

Trans. Amer. Philos. Soc., n. s. 8: 269. 1842, name proposed for conservation ,.

Common names: Hobblebush dog-laurel fetterbush
Etymology: Greek eu-, good or well, and botrys, bunch, alluding to capsules in tight raceme
Treatment appears in FNA Volume 8. Treatment on page 510. Mentioned on page 371, 376.

Shrubs. Stems erect; branches spreading, without silvery scales (sometimes hairy). Leaves deciduous; blade (not glaucous), oblong to oblanceolate or obovate, membranous, margins spinulose-serrulate, plane, surfaces glabrous, often unicellular-hairy on major veins abaxially; venation reticulodromous. Inflorescences axillary, fascicled or solitary racemes, 8–25-flowered, (produced on previous year’s wood); (bracteoles 2, distal). Flowers: sepals 5, connate basally, lanceolate or ovate; petals 5, connate basally nearly their entire lengths, white to pale pink, corolla cylindric, lobes much shorter than tube; stamens 8(–10), included; filaments ± straight, flattened, glabrous, without spurs; anthers with 2 or 4 awns proximal to anther-filament junction, dehiscent by terminal pores; pistil 5-carpellate; ovary pseudo 10-locular; stigma 5-lobed, capitate. Fruits capsular, depressed-globose, dry. Seeds 5–10, oblanceoloid or wedge- or crescent-shaped, flattened or not; testa smooth, shiny, reticulate. x = 11.

Distribution

se, e United States.

Discussion

Cassandra Spach, Hist. Nat. Vég. 9: 477. 1840, not D. Don 1834

Species 2 (2 in the flora).

Although Eubotrys sometimes is included in Leucothoë, morphological and molecular work (K. Waselkov and W. S. Judd 2008; K. A. Kron et al. 1999, 2002) indicated that it is actually a sister lineage to Chamaedaphne, rather than to Leucothoë in the narrow sense. Notably, the pedicel bracts are located close to the pedicel apex in Eubotrys, while the bracts are near the base of the pedicel in Leucothoë. The development of the inflorescences on twigs of the current year in autumn has apparently evolved in parallel within Eubotrys and Leucothoë in the narrow sense.

Selected References

None.

Key

1 Racemes 3-5 cm, straight, erect or ascending; sepals lanceolate; anthers 4-awned. Eubotrys racemosa
1 Racemes 5-12 cm, curved or recurved, spreading or ascending; sepals ovate; anthers 2-awned. Eubotrys recurva
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