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Calycanthus occidentalis

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Calycanthus occidentalis
The flowers do not have distinct sepals and petals.

Vulnerable  (NatureServe)[1]
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Magnoliids
Order: Laurales
Family: Calycanthaceae
Genus: Calycanthus
Species:
C. occidentalis
Binomial name
Calycanthus occidentalis
Hook. & Arn.[2]
Synonyms[2]
  • Butneria occidentalis (Hook. & Arn.) Greene
  • Calycanthus macrophyllus K.Koch

Calycanthus occidentalis, commonly called spice bush or western sweetshrub,[3] is a species of flowering shrub in the family Calycanthaceae that is native to California and Washington state. It grows along streams and moist canyons in the foothills of mountains.[4]

Description

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Calycanthus occidentalis is a deciduous shrub that can reach a height of 4 m (13 ft). Its leaves are opposite, and grow to about 5–15 cm (2–6 in) long and 2–8 cm (0.8–3.1 in) wide. They are more-or-less ovate with acute tips, a rounded base. The flowers appear from late spring to early fall. The flowers do not have distinctive sepals and petals, but have swirls of dark red to burgundy colored petal-like structures called tepals, 2–6 cm (0.8–2.4 in) long and 0.5–1 cm (0.2–0.4 in) wide. The flowers open to about 5 cm (2 in) wide. The tepals enclose about 10–15 stamens.[5][6] The flowers are pollinated by beetles of the family Nitidulidae.[7]

Distribution and habitat

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Calycanthus occidentalis is native to California and Washington.[2][3][5] It grows along streams and on moist canyon slopes at elevations of 200–1,600 m (700–5,200 ft).[5]

References

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  1. ^ "NatureServe Explorer 2.0".
  2. ^ a b c "Calycanthus occidentalis Hook. & Arn". Plants of the World Online. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Retrieved 18 March 2021.
  3. ^ a b USDA, NRCS (n.d.). "​Calycanthus occidentalis​". The PLANTS Database (plants.usda.gov). Greensboro, North Carolina: National Plant Data Team. Retrieved 16 December 2019.
  4. ^ "Spice Bush, Calycanthus occidentalis". Calscape. Retrieved 26 February 2024.
  5. ^ a b c Johnson, George P. "Calycanthus occidentalis". In Flora of North America Editorial Committee (ed.). Flora of North America (online). eFloras.org. Retrieved 18 March 2021.
  6. ^ Johnson, George P.; Fosiée, Tahbaz. "Calycanthus occidentalis Sweet-shrub, Spicebush". Jepson eFlora. The Jepson Herbarium, University of California, Berkeley. Retrieved 10 February 2021.
  7. ^ Gottsberger, Gerhard; Gottsberger, Brigitte; Silberbauer-Gottsberger, Ilse; Stanojlovic, Vesna; Cabrele, Chiara & Dötterl, Stefan (2021). "Imitation of fermenting fruits in beetle-pollinated Calycanthus occidentalis (Calycanthaceae)". Flora. 274. 151732. doi:10.1016/j.flora.2020.151732.