Mitchella
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| Missing image Mitchella.repens01.jpg Mitchella repens Partridge Berry (Mitchella repens) | ||||||||||||
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Mitchella is a small genus from the madder family (Rubiaceae).
The genus Mitchella L., was named by Carolus Linnaeus after his friend John Mitchell (1711 - 1768), an English physician who lived in America and gave Linnaeus much valuable information on American flora.
It consists of a few glabrous or puberulous, creeping, rhizomatous herbs with white axillary flowers with funnel-shaped corolla. They prefer mildly acidic soils, growing in woods near pines or hemlock or mossy hummocks.
Species
- Mitchella ovata DC (Ecuador)
- Mitchella repens L. : Partridge Berry (North America, Japan)
- Mitchella repens var. alba Beal (NE North America)
- Mitchella repens f. leucocarpa Bissell (NE North America)
The subspecies of Mitchella repens are given by IPNI, but don't seem to be recognized by several authors.