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Albany-beechdrops, pinedrops

pine-drops, ptérospore andromeda, woodland pinedrops

Habit Herbs, achlorophyllous, heterotrophic.
Stems

absent.

Leaves

absent.

Inflorescences

racemes, erect at emergence from soil, axis fleshy and fibrous, persistent after seed dispersal, pink to reddish or brownish, 0.5–1.5 cm diam. proximal to proximalmost flower.

1.5–17 dm, glandular-hirsute;

bracts 2–3.5 × 0.5–1 cm, scarious at maturity.

Pedicels

decurved, somewhat longer in fruit;

bracteoles absent.

Flowers

radially symmetric, nodding;

sepals 5, distinct, lanceolate-ovate;

petals 5, connate, cream to yellowish or white, without basal tubercles, (surfaces glabrous), corolla urceolate;

intrastaminal nectary disc present;

stamens 10, included;

filaments broader proximally than distally, glabrous;

anthers depressed-ovoid to ovoid, with awns, without tubules, dehiscent by 2 oval slits;

pistil 5-carpellate;

ovary 5-locular;

placentation axile;

style straight, slender;

stigma capitate, without subtending ring of hairs.

sepals 4–6 × 2–3 mm;

corolla 6–9 mm, base not saccate, lobes reflexed, rounded to blunt;

stamens 3–5 mm;

anthers horizontal at anthesis, ca. 1 mm diam., awns to 1.5 mm;

ovary 3–4 × 4–6 mm, glabrous;

style 1–3 × 1 mm;

stigma yellowish, ca. 1.5 mm diam.

Fruits

capsular, pendulous, dehiscence acropetally loculicidal, no cobwebby tissue exposed by splitting valves at dehiscence.

Capsules

persistent, thin-segmented, remaining connate at apex, 5–10 × 7–14 mm.

Seeds

100+, ovoid, with broad, rounded, membranous wing attached at 1 end.

0.2–0.5 mm including wing.

x

= 8.

2n

= 16, 48.

Pterospora

Pterospora andromedea

Phenology Flowering summer.
Habitat Moist to dry, often deep humus of mixed-deciduous or coniferous forests (sometimes on calcareous substrates)
Elevation 60-3700 m (200-12100 ft)
Distribution
from USDA
North America; n Mexico
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AK; AZ; CA; CO; ID; MI; MT; NE; NH; NM; NV; NY; OR; SD; TX; UT; VT; WA; WY; AB; BC; NB; ON; PE; QC; SK; Mexico (Chihuahua, Durango, Nuevo León)
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Species 1: North America, n Mexico.

Species 1

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Source FNA vol. 8, p. 389. Author: Gary D. Wallace. FNA vol. 8, p. 389.
Parent taxa Ericaceae > subfam. Monotropoideae Ericaceae > subfam. Monotropoideae > Pterospora
Subordinate taxa
P. andromedea
Name authority Nuttall: Gen. N. Amer. Pl. 1: 269. 1818 , Nuttall: Gen. N. Amer. Pl. 1: 269. 1818 ,
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