Phylica is a genus of plants in the family Rhamnaceae. It contains about 150 species,[1] the majority of which are restricted to South Africa, where they form part of the fynbos.[2] A few species occur in other parts of southern Africa, and on islands including Madagascar, the Mascarene Islands, Île Amsterdam, Saint Helena, Tristan da Cunha,[1] and Gough Island. Phylica piloburmensis from the Burmese amber of Myanmar, dating to around 99 million years ago during the mid-Cretaceous, was originally described as the oldest fossil member of the genus,[3] but subsequent studies contested its assignment to the genus Phylica[4] and even to the family Rhamnaceae,[5] with one study placing it in the separate genus Nothophylica.[5]
^James E. Richardson; Frans M. Weitz; Michael F. Fay; Quentin C. B. Cronk; H. Peter Linder; Gail Reeves; Mark W. Chase (2001). "Phylogenetic analysis of Phylica L. (Rhamnaceae) with an emphasis on island species: evidence from plastid trnL-F and nuclear internal transcribed spacer (ribosomal) DNA sequences". Taxon. 50 (2): 405–427. doi:10.2307/1223889. JSTOR1223889.
^Oskolski, Alexei A.; Morris, Benjamin B.; Severova, Elena E.; Sokoloff, Dmitry D. (2024). "Flowers from Myanmar amber confirm the Cretaceous age of Rhamnaceae but not of the extant genus Phylica". Nature Plants. 10 (2): 219–222. Bibcode:2024NatPl..10..219O. doi:10.1038/s41477-023-01591-x. PMID38278949.