Leucothoe D.Don

TSO logo

Sponsor this page

For information about how you could sponsor this page, see How You Can Help

Credits

Article from Bean's Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles

Recommended citation
'Leucothoe' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/leucothoe/). Accessed 2025-05-22.

Family

  • Ericaceae

Synonyms

  • Paraleucothoe (Nakai) Honda

Glossary

calyx
(pl. calyces) Outer whorl of the perianth. Composed of several sepals.
corolla
The inner whorl of the perianth. Composed of free or united petals often showy.
alternate
Attached singly along the axis not in pairs or whorls.
axillary
Situated in an axil.
bud
Immature shoot protected by scales that develops into leaves and/or flowers.
capsule
Dry dehiscent fruit; formed from syncarpous ovary.
corolla
The inner whorl of the perianth. Composed of free or united petals often showy.
imbricate
Overlapping.
included
(botanical) Contained within another part or organ.
valvate
(of similar parts of a plant: e.g. petals) Meeting without overlapping; (of dehiscent fruit) opening via valves.

References

There are no active references in this article.

Credits

Article from Bean's Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles

Recommended citation
'Leucothoe' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/leucothoe/). Accessed 2025-05-22.

Editorial Note

We have published this stub genus article as part of a wider programme of work, beginning in early 2025, to bring the nomenclature of articles in line with modern treatments. Historic Bean text will appear under its correct modern name, with appropriate synonymy and adapted where necessary, until we have funding to update the articles entirely. If you would like to sponsor this genus please contact editor@treesandshrubsonline.org

Now a shadow of its former self, when Bean’s latest (1981) edition was published, Leucothoe contained around 45 deciduous and evergreen species distributed throughout North and South America, and (to a lesser extent) East Asia. Since then the genus has been thoroughly dismantled on phylogenetic grounds, sections having been split off into Agarista (mainly South American), Eubotrys (North American, deciduous) and Eubotryoides (Japanese, deciduous)see the entries for those genera. As a result, the rump genus Leucothoe has been left with just five species, all evergreen and with an East Asian – North American distribution.

This process of revision and reordering was supported by molecular data and cladistics, but its conclusions notably concur with those of earlier taxonomistsfrom Nuttall (1843) to Sleumer (1959)whose observations had gradually established a convincing infrageneric classification so strongly defined that surprise has been expressed that Leucothoe was maintained as a genus for so long (see Waselkov & Judd (2008), who give a detailed account of the taxonomic history).

Leaves alternate. Flowers in axillary or terminal racemes. Calyx of five nearly free lobes, which are imbricate (i.e., overlapping) in the bud. Corolla urn-shaped or cylindrical. Stamens ten, included within the corolla; anthers with or without awns and always without spurs at the base. Seed-vessel a round, flattened, loculicidal capsule.

Some species of Gaultheria closely resemble Leucothoe but can always be distinguished by their fruits. Lyonia differs in having the sepals valvate in the bud (i.e. not or just touching but not overlapping). Pieris also has valvate sepals.

The chief cultural need of the leucothoes is a moist, peaty soil or a sandy lime-free loam with leaf-mould added; they prefer semi-shaded positions. Propagation is by cuttings of half-ripened shoots.