Difference between revisions of "Chionanthus"

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Revision as of 19:59, 9 November 2007

Chionanthus
Chionanthus pygmaeus
Chionanthus pygmaeus
Plant Info
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Division: Magnoliophyta
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Lamiales
Family: Oleaceae
Genus: Chionanthus
L.

Species
See text

Chionanthus (syn. Linociera Sw.) is a genus of about 80 species of flowering plants in the family Oleaceae.

Chionanthus virginicus flowers

The genus has a wide distribution primarily in the tropics and subtropics, but with two species extending north into temperate regions, one (C. retusus) in eastern Asia and one (C. virginicus) in eastern North America. Most of the tropical species are evergreen, while the two temperate species are deciduous; some botanists restrict Chionanthus to the two deciduous, temperate species, treating the evergreen species in a separate genus Linociera, but apart from leaf persistence, there is no other consistent difference between them (Flora of China).

They are shrubs and small to medium-sized trees growing to 3-25 m tall. The leaves are opposite, simple. The flowers are produced in feathery panicles, with a corolla subdivided into four slender lobes; they are white, pale yellow, or tinged pink. The fruit is a drupe containing a single seed.

Selected species

External links