Belongs within: Gunneridae.
Contains: Symplocaceae, Impatiens, Sapotales, Polemoniaceae, Primulales, Lecythidaceae, Theaceae, Styracaceae, Ericaceae.
The Ericales are a large clade of flowering plants primarily supported by molecular data, one of the most basal branches within the clade Asteridae. Members of the Ericales are significant members of the tropical understory.
Noteworthy members of the Ericales include the Actinidiaceae, a group of woody vines, trees and shrubs with simple, spiral leaves including the kiwifruit or Chinese gooseberry Actinidia deliciosa, grown commercially for its fruit. Marcgravia is a Neotropical genus of climbers in which the bat-pollinated flowers are born in umbellate clusters with the central flowers abortive and possessing pendulous, pitcher-shaped bracts filled with nectar. The Sarraceniaceae are a group of carnivorous plants found in North and South America whose elongate, tubular leaves form fluid-filled pitchers for the capture and digestion of insects. Mitrastema yamamotoi is a holoparasitic plant growing on the roots of southeast Asian Fagaceae (Barkman et al. 2004).
Fouquieria columnaris
Published 26 February 2010
“But oh, beamish nephew, beware of the day,
If your Snark be a Boojum! For then
You will softly and suddenly vanish away,
And never be met with again!”–Lewis Carroll, The Hunting of the Snark
The subject of the above photo is Fouquieria columnaris (or Idria columnaris), a desert plant of southwest North America commonly known as the cirio (Spanish for ‘candle’) or boojum tree. The name ‘boojum’ comes from Lewis Carroll’s allegorical* poem The Hunting of the Snark in which a company of mismatched adventurers attempts to capture a mysterious (and possibly non-existent) creature only to have one of their party disappear under puzzling circumstances.
*Many authors refer to The Hunting of the Snark as allegorical. ‘Allegorical’ may be shorthand for ‘no, we don’t know what he’s on about, either’.
It is not hard to see how Carroll’s eerie, creepy boojum became associated with this strange, eerie plant (though, to the best of my knowledge, F. columnaris has never been party to mysterious disappearances). The boojum has a restricted range, found on granite ranges in the Mexican states of Baja California and Sonora. Rainfall in these areas is low, averaging 120 mm per year (Bashan et al. 2007). Boojums can reach heights of up to 12 metres (Humphrey 1935) but grow slowly, about three or four centimetres in a good year (Bashan et al. 2007). It can take 100 years for a boojum to reach maturity and begin flowering and large individuals may be more than 700 years old.
The usual growth form of a boojum is as a single tapering trunk—Pat’s description of it as a “living telegraph pole” is appropriate, while Humphrey (1935) regarded it as “not unlike a greatly elongated inverted parsnip”. The central stem may or may not divide into candelabra-like branches while individuals may deviate from the usual vertical growth to form strange loops or arches. The central stem is covered by short side branches arranged in a spiral pattern and carrying spines and small leaves.
The genus Fouquieria includes eleven species of North American succulents that have been placed in their own separate family (the other Fouquieria species, the ocotillos, are low radiating shrubs). Recent studies have placed Fouquieria among the Ericales and most (but not all) molecular analyses support a sister-group relationship between Fouquieria and Polemoniaceae (the phlox family; Geuten et al. 2004).
Systematics of Ericales
Synapomorphies (Angiosperm Phylogeny Website): Nonhydrolysable tannins, triterpenoids including saponins present; vessel elements with simple perforation plates; nodes 1:1; leaf vascular bundles collateral; leaves spiral, teeth with single vein and opaque deciduous cap; duplication of the PI gene.
<==Ericales [Clethrineae, Ternstroemiaceae, Theineae]
|--+--ImpatiensK01
| `--MarcgraviaceaeH11
| |--Souroubea guianensisH11
| |--Ruyschioxylon sumatrense Hoffmann 1884CBH93
| `--MarcgraviaK01
| |--M. oligandraJ87
| |--M. rectifloraJ87
| `--M. sintenisiiSWK87
`--+--SapotalesK01
`--+--+--+--PolemoniaceaeK01
| | `--PrimulalesK01
| `--+--LecythidaceaeK01
| `--EuryaK01
| |--E. acuminataD07
| |--E. emarginataMH98
| `--E. japonicaMH98
`--+--+--TheaceaeK01
| `--StyracaceaeK01
`--+--+--ClethraceaeKJ02
| | |--Clethraecarpum asepalum Menzel 1914CBH93
| | |--Junia Adans. 1763KC01
| | `--ClethraKJ02
| | |--C. acuminataJK80
| | |--C. alnifoliaKJ02
| | |--C. arboreaJK80
| | |--C. barrinervisT72
| | |--C. tinifoliaC55
| | `--C. tomentosaJK80
| `--+--+--EricaceaeKJ02
| | `--Roridula [Roridulaceae]H03
| | |--R. dentataH03
| | `--R. gorgoniasH03
| `--CyrillaceaeKJ02
| |--Cyrilla racemifloraKJ02
| |--PurdiaeaT00
| |--Epacridicarpum colwellenseJD05
| |--Pirocarpella aquisgranensisJD05
| `--Cyrilloxylon europaeum van der Burgh 1964CBH93
`--+--Sarraceniaceae [Sarraceniineae]H03
| |--HeliamphoraT00
| |--Darlingtonia californicaH93
| `--SarraceniaT00
| |--S. alabamensisD81
| |--S. purpureaMCR04
| |--S. rubraH93
| `--S. sledgeiS81
`--ActinidiaceaeKJ02
|--ParasaurauiaT00
|--Clematoclethra [Clematoclethroideae]T00
|--Actinidioxylon princeps (Ludwig) Müller-Stoll & Mädel-Angeliewa 1969CBH93
|--Actinidia [Actinidioideae]KJ02
| |--A. argutaJK80
| |--A. callosaDD73
| |--A. chinensisKJ02
| |--A. deliciosaPF02
| `--A. strigosaSN88
`--Saurauja [Saurauiaceae, Saurauioideae]T00
|--S. fasciculataDD73
|--S. macrotrichaDD73
|--S. napaulensisDD73
|--S. nudifloraR44
|--S. panduanaDD73
|--S. pendulaR44
`--S. roxburghiiDD73
Ericales incertae sedis:
MitrastemaBL04 [Mitrastemaceae, MitrastemonaceaeAPG16]
`--M. yamamotoiBL04
TetrameristaceaeAPG16
|--PentameristaT00
`--TetrameristaT00
PellicieraceaeT00
| i. s.: ‘Verrutricolporites’ crassus Fuchs 1970CBH93
`--Pelliciera rhizophoraeHSS13
SymplocaceaeAPG16
PentaphylacaceaeAPG16
|--PentaphylaxT00
`--AllericarpusCBH93
FouquieriaOB11 [incl. IdriaT00; FouquieriaceaeAPG16, Fouquieriales]
|--‘Idria’ columnarisM69
|--F. diguetiiMF68
`--F. splendensOB11
Sladeniaceae [Sladenioideae]APG16
DiapensiaKJ02 [DiapensiaceaeAPG16, Diapensiales]
|--D. himalaicaO88
`--D. lapponicaKJ02
ValvaecarpusCBH93
DupiniaT-W89
*Type species of generic name indicated
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