''Schima'' is a
genus
Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...
of evergreen trees belonging to the tea family,
Theaceae
Theaceae (), the tea family, is a family of flowering plants comprising shrubs and trees, including the economically important tea plant, and the ornamental camellias. It can be described as having from seven to 40 genera, depending on the sour ...
.
The genus inhabits warm temperate to subtropical climates across southern and southeastern Asia, from the eastern
Himalaya
The Himalayas, or Himalaya (; ; ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the planet's highest peaks, including the very highest, Mount Everest. Over 100 ...
of
Nepal
Nepal (; ne, :ne:नेपाल, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne,
सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in S ...
and eastern
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
across
Indochina
Mainland Southeast Asia, also known as the Indochinese Peninsula or Indochina, is the continental portion of Southeast Asia. It lies east of the Indian subcontinent and south of Mainland China and is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the west an ...
, southern
China,
Taiwan
Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...
, and the
Ryukyu Islands
The , also known as the or the , are a chain of Japanese islands that stretch southwest from Kyushu to Taiwan: the Ōsumi, Tokara, Amami, Okinawa, and Sakishima Islands (further divided into the Miyako and Yaeyama Islands), with Yona ...
. There are about 20 species, including six species endemic to China.
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]
Fossil record
Fossil fruits of ''Schima'' have been described as †''Schima nanlinensis'', from the Miocene of Nanlin Formation in Longchuan Basin, Dehong Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan Province, China. The fossil fruits are 5-loculed capsules with flat reniform seeds. The genus ''Schima'' is known as fossils from the Palaeogene and Neogene of Germany and Austria. †''Schima nanlinensis'' represents the first fossil record of the genus in Asia.[Fruits of Schima (Theaceae) and seeds of Toddalia (Rutaceae) from the Miocene of Yunnan Province, China by Ya Li, Jian Yang, Nilamber Awasthi and Cheng-Sen Li in Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology 193:119–127 · June 2013]
Species (accepted)
* ''Schima brevipedicellata'' Hung T. Chang
* ''Schima crenata'' Korth.
* ''Schima khasiana'' Dyer
* ''Schima multibracteata'' Hung T. Chang
* ''Schima noronhae'' Reinw.
* ''Schima parviflora'' W.C. Cheng & Hung T. Chang
* ''Schima remotiserrata'' Hung T. Chang
* ''Schima sericans'' (Hand.-Mazz.) T.L. Ming
* ''Schima sericans'' var. ''paracrenata'' (Hung T. Chang) T.L. Ming
* ''Schima sinensis'' (Hemsl. & E.H. Wilson) Airy Shaw
* ''Schima superba'' Gardner & Champ.
* ''Schima villosa'' Hu
* ''Schima wallichii'' Choisy
Species (unresolved)
* ''Schima argentea'' E.Pritz. ex Diels
* ''Schima bambusifolia'' Hu
* ''Schima bancana'' Miq.
* ''Schima beccarii'' Warb.
* ''Schima boninensis'' Melch.
* ''Schima boninensis'' Nakai
* ''Schima brevifolia'' Baill. ex Stapf
* ''Schima dulungensis'' H.T.Chang & C.S.Ye
* ''Schima excelsa'' Blume
* ''Schima hypochra'' Pierre
* ''Schima hypoglauca'' Miq.
* ''Schima lobbii'' (Hook.f.) Pierre
* ''Schima lowii'' Pierre
* ''Schima mairei'' Hochr.
* ''Schima mertensiana'' Koidz.
* ''Schima mollis'' Dyer
* ''Schima monticola'' Kurz
* ''Schima oblata'' Kurz
* ''Schima polyneura'' H.T.Chang
* ''Schima pulgarensis'' Elmer
* ''Schima rigida'' Miq.
* ''Schima sericea'' Airy Shaw
* ''Schima sulcinervia'' Miq.
* ''Schima wallichii'' (DC.) Korth.
References
The Plant List entry
Theaceae
Ericales genera
Flora of Nepal
{{Theaceae-stub