Pterostyrax, the epaulette tree, is a small genus of four species of deciduous large shrubs or small trees in the family Styracaceae, native to eastern Asia in China and Japan. They grow 4–12 m (13–39 ft) tall, with alternate, simple ovate leaves 6–17 cm (2–7 in) long and 4–10 cm (2–4 in) broad. The flowers are white, produced in dense panicles 8–25 cm (3–10 in) long. The fruit is an oblong dry drupe, with longitudinal ribs or narrow wings (the wings are absent in the related genus Styrax, whence the name Pterostyrax, "winged styrax").[1][2][3]

Pterostyrax
Pterostyrax hispidus
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Ericales
Family: Styracaceae
Genus: Pterostyrax
Siebold & Zucc.
Species

See text

Species

The species names are frequently given with feminine gender ("corymbosa", etc.); however, the genus is correctly of masculine gender.[2]

References

edit
  1. ^ Fritsch, Peter W.; Morton, Cynthia M.; Chen, Tao; Meldrum, Candice (2001). "Phylogeny and biogeography of the Styracaceae". International Journal of Plant Sciences. 162 (S6): S95–S116. doi:10.1086/323418. JSTOR 323418.
  2. ^ a b Germplasm Resources Information Network: Pterostyrax Archived 2009-01-15 at the Wayback Machine
  3. ^ Flora of China: Pterostyrax