Styracaceae
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| Styracaceae | ||||||||||
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 Halesia carolina
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Styracaceae is a small family of flowering plants in the order Ericales, containing 11 genera and about 160 species of trees and shrubs. The family occurs in warm temperate and subtropical regions of the Northern Hemisphere.[1][2]
The family is characterised by spirally arranged simple leaves with no stipules; symmetrical white flowers with a corolla of 2-5 (-7) fused petals; and the fruit usually a dry capsule, sometimes winged, less often a fleshy drupe, with 1-2 seeds.
Most are large shrubs to small trees 3-15 m tall, but Halesia monticola (H. carolina var. monticola) is larger, with trees 39 m tall known in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in North Carolina, United States.
Several genera include species popular as ornamental trees valued for their decorative white flowers. Benzoin resin, used in herbal medicine and perfumes, is extracted from the bark of Styrax species.
- Genera
- Alniphyllum Matsum. (3 species).
- Bruinsmia Boer. & Koord. (2 species).
- Changiostyrax C.T.Chen (1 species).
- Halesia J.Ellis ex L. (3–5 species).
- Huodendron Rehder (4 species).
- Melliodendron Hand.-Mazz. (1 species).
- Parastyrax W.W.Sm. (2 species).
- Pterostyrax Siebold & Zucc. (4 species).
- Rehderodendron Hu (5 species).
- Sinojackia Hu (5 species).
- Styrax L. (c.130 species; syn. Pamphilia).
The genus Pamphilia, sometimes regarded as distinct, is now included within Styrax on genetic data.[1][3]
[edit] References
- ^ a b Fritsch, P. W., Morton, C. M., Chen, T., & Meldrum, C. (2001). Phylogeny and Biogeography of the Styracaceae. Int. J. Plant Sci. 162 (6 Suppl.): S95–S116. Available online (pdf file)
- ^ L. Watson and M.J. Dallwitz (1992 onwards). The families of flowering plants. Styracaceae
- ^ Wallnöfer, B. (1997). A revision of Styrax L. section Pamphilia (Mart. ex A. DC.) B. Walln. (Styracaceae). Ann. Nathist. Mus. Wien 99B: 681–720.
