Stachyurus | |
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Stachyurus praecox flowers. | |
Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Clade: | Angiosperms |
Clade: | Eudicots |
Clade: | Rosids |
Order: | Crossosomatales |
Family: | Stachyuraceae J.Agardh |
Genus: | Stachyurus Siebold & Zucc. |
Species | |
See text |
Stachyurus is the only genus in the flowering plant family Stachyuraceae,[1] native to the Himalayas and eastern Asia. They are deciduous shrubs or small trees with pendent racemes of 4-petalled flowers which appear on the bare branches before the leaves.[2] The plants have leaves with serrate margins.
Pendunculagin, casuarictin, strictinin, casuarinin and casuariin are ellagitannins found in species in this genus.[3]
Stachyurus praecox from Japan, and the slightly later-flowering S. chinensis from China, are both cultivated as ornamental plants, valued for their exceptionally early flowering periods.