Symplocos

Symplocos
Temporal range: Eocene–Present
Plate by Philipp Franz von Siebold and Joseph Gerhard Zuccarini
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Ericales
Family: Symplocaceae
Genus: Symplocos
Jacq.[1]
Species

See text

Diversity
c. 400 species
Synonyms[1]
  • Barberina Vell.
  • Bobu Adans.
  • Bobua DC.
  • Carlea C.Presl
  • Catonia Vell.
  • Chasseloupia Vieill.
  • Ciponima Aubl.
  • Cofer Loefl.
  • Cordyloblaste Hensch. ex Moritzi
  • Decadia Lour.
  • Dicalix Lour.
  • Drupatris Lour.
  • Hopea L.
  • Hypopogon Turcz.
  • Lodhra Guill.
  • Mongezia Vell.
  • Palura (G.Don) Miers
  • Praealstonia Miers
  • Protohopea Miers
  • Sariava Reinw.
  • Stemmatosiphum Pohl
  • Suringaria Pierre

Symplocos is a genus of flowering plants in the order Ericales. It contains about 300 species distributed in Asia and the Americas. Many species grow in humid tropical regions. This is sometimes considered to be the only genus in family Symplocaceae.[2] Plants in this family are shrubs and trees with white or yellow flowers.[3] The oldest fossils of the genus date to the lower Eocene of Europe and North America, with the genus being present in Europe as late as the Pliocene.[4][5] Fossil seeds of †Symplocos granulosa are frequent in sediment rock layers of the Late Oligocene to the Late Miocene of Denmark, Germany, Austria and Poland. The fossil seeds are very similar to the seeds of the extan southern Chinese species Symplocos glandulifera and Symplocos sulcata. Fossil seeds of †Symplocos paucicostata are known from the Middle Pliocene sediment rock layers in Reuver, the Netherlands and from the Late Pliocene sediment rock layers in northern Italy. The fossil seeds are very similar to the seeds of the extant East Asian species Symplocos paniculata[6]

  1. ^ a b "Symplocos". Plants of the World Online. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Retrieved 14 February 2023.
  2. ^ Wang, Y.; Fritsch, P.W.; Shi, S.; Almeda, F.; Cruz, B.C.; Kelly, L.M. (2004). "Phylogeny and infrageneric classification of Symplocos (Symplocaceae) inferred from DNA sequence data". American Journal of Botany. 91 (11): 1901–14. doi:10.3732/ajb.91.11.1901. PMID 21652336.
  3. ^ Symplocaceae. Flora of China.
  4. ^ Sadowski, Eva-Maria; Hofmann, Christa-Charlotte (2023-01-12). "The largest amber-preserved flower revisited". Scientific Reports. 13 (1): 17. Bibcode:2023NatSR..13...17S. doi:10.1038/s41598-022-24549-z. ISSN 2045-2322. PMC 9837116. PMID 36635320.
  5. ^ Manchester, Steven R.; Fritsch, Peter W. (January 2014). "European fossil fruits of Sphenotheca related to extant Asian species of Symplocos: Sphenotheca transferred to Symplocos". Journal of Systematics and Evolution. 52 (1): 68–74. doi:10.1111/jse.12060. S2CID 86227214.
  6. ^ A reconsideration of the diversity of Symplocos in the European Neogene on the basis of fruit morphology by D. H. Mai and Edoardo Martinetto - Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology 140(1):1-26, June 2006 - DOI:10.1016/j.revpalbo.2006.02.001