Gaylussacia

Gaylussacia
File:Gaylussacia pulchra Pohl127.png
Gaylussacia pulchra
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
(unranked):	Angiosperms
(unranked):	Eudicots
(unranked):	Asterids
Order:	Ericales
Family:	Ericaceae
Genus:	Gaylussacia Kunth

Gaylussacia is a genus of about fifty species of flowering plants in the family Ericaceae, native to the Americas, where they occur in eastern North America and in South America in the Andes and the mountains of southeastern Brazil (the majority of the known species). Common English names include huckleberry (shared with plants in several other genera) and "dangleberry".

Ecology

Gaylussacia species are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species including Coleophora gaylussaciella (which feeds exclusively on Gaylussacia) and Coleophora multicristatella.

Gaylussacia plants are often a component of an oak-heath forest. They are deciduous or evergreen shrubs growing to a height of 0.4–1.8 metres (1 ft 4 in – 5 ft 11 in).

Classification

Gaylussacia is named in honor of the French chemist Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac (1778–1850). It is closely related to Vaccinium, and it is still unclear whether the commonly understood line between Vaccinium and Gaylussacia is justified. A 2002 paper found that molecular data did not support past divisions of Gaylussacia into sections.

Species

File:Gaylussacia brasiliensis.jpg

Gaylussacia brasiliensis

2

External links

• New York Botanic Gardens: Gaylussacia
• United States Department of Agriculture plants profile, Gaylussacia
• Trees and shrubs of the Andes of Ecuador: Gaylussacia

• 1827 illustration from Plantarum Brasiliae icones et descriptiones hactenus ineditae. Vol. 1. Author: Johann Baptist Emanuel Pohl
• The Natural Communities of Virginia Classification of Ecological Community Groups (Version 2.3), Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation, 2010