Kingdom Plantae Family Ericaceae Rank Genus | Order Ericales Subfamily Monotropoideae | |
Similar Monotropastrum, Pityopus, Hemitomes | ||
Cheilotheca is a small genus of myco-heterotrophic plants in the heath family (Ericaceae). As currently circumscribed the group includes three species.
Contents
Etymology
The genus was named by Joseph Dalton Hooker in 1876. The name is derived from the Greek word "cheilos", meaning a lip or an edge. The "theca" is a Latin term, meaning covering or sheath. Together they essentially mean "lipped sheath".
Taxonomy
Based on morphological analyses, Cheilotheca has been placed in the Ericaceae subfamily Monotropoideae. The exact placement of Cheilotheca within the Monotropoideae is still unknown, but morphologically the genus most closely resembles Monotropa and Monotropastrum.
List of species
References
Cheilotheca Wikipedia(Text) CC BY-SA