Mitchella

{{Short description|Genus of flowering plants}}

{{Automatic taxobox

|image = Mitchella repens 2004.JPG

|image_caption = Mitchella repens

|display_parents = 2

|taxon = Mitchella

|authority = L.

|type_species = Mitchella repens

|type_species_authority = L.

|synonyms = * Chamaedaphne Mitch.

}}

Mitchella is a genus of flowering plants in the family Rubiaceae. It is found from China to temperate eastern Asia, and from eastern Canada to Guatemala.{{cite web|url=http://apps.kew.org/wcsp/qsearch.do?plantName=Mitchella|title=Mitchella in the World Checklist of Rubiaceae|accessdate=13 April 2016}}

The genus Mitchella was named by Carl Linnaeus after his friend John Mitchell (1711–1768), an English physician who lived in America and gave Linnaeus much valuable information on the American flora.

It consists of two species of glabrous or puberulous, creeping, rhizomatous herbs with white axillary flowers with funnel-shaped corollas. They prefer mildly acidic soils, growing in woods near pines, hemlock or mossy hummocks.

The fruits of Mitchella repens, known as partridge berries, are eaten in some places.

Species

References

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