''Chionographis'' is a genus of plants in the

Melanthiaceae Melanthiaceae, also called the bunchflower family, is a family (biology), family of flowering plant, flowering herbaceous perennial plants native to the Northern Hemisphere. Along with many other lilioid monocots, early authors considered member ...

first described as a genus in 1867. This genus is native to China, Japan, and Korea.Flora of China Vol. 24 Page 88 白丝草属 bai si cao shu ''Chionographis'' Maximowicz, Bull. Acad. Imp. Sci. Saint-Pétersbourg. 11: 435. 1867.
/ref> ''Chionographis'' species are perennial flowering plants that grow from

rhizome In botany and dendrology, a rhizome ( ) is a modified subterranean plant stem that sends out roots and Shoot (botany), shoots from its Node (botany), nodes. Rhizomes are also called creeping rootstalks or just rootstalks. Rhizomes develop from ...

s. They produce a basal rosette of

evergreen In botany, an evergreen is a plant which has Leaf, foliage that remains green and functional throughout the year. This contrasts with deciduous plants, which lose their foliage completely during the winter or dry season. Consisting of many diffe ...

leaves, from the center of which emerges a flowering scape. The scape produces a spike of many small white flowers. The flowers are

zygomorphic Floral symmetry describes whether, and how, a flower, in particular its perianth, can be divided into two or more identical or mirror-image parts. Uncommonly, flowers may have no axis of symmetry at all, typically because their parts are spir ...

in shape, and when perfect have six

tepals A tepal is one of the outer parts of a flower (collectively the perianth). The term is used when these parts cannot easily be classified as either sepals or petals. This may be because the parts of the perianth are undifferentiated (i.e. of ve ...

, one

pistil Gynoecium (; ; : gynoecia) is most commonly used as a collective term for the parts of a flower that produce ovules and ultimately develop into the fruit and seeds. The gynoecium is the innermost whorl (botany), whorl of a flower; it consists ...

, and six

stamens The stamen (: stamina or stamens) is a part consisting of the male reproductive organs of a flower. Collectively, the stamens form the androecium., p. 10 Morphology and terminology A stamen typically consists of a stalk called the filamen ...

. However, not all individuals have perfect flowers. Many populations feature gynodioecy, and more rarely, androdioecy. They are native to

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

, and

Korea Korea is a peninsular region in East Asia consisting of the Korean Peninsula, Jeju Island, and smaller islands. Since the end of World War II in 1945, it has been politically Division of Korea, divided at or near the 38th parallel north, 3 ...

, and typically grow in moist places in the temperate forests' understory. ; species * '' Chionographis chinensis'' K.Krause -

Fujian Fujian is a provinces of China, province in East China, southeastern China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, Guangdong to the south, and the Taiwan Strait to the east. Its capital is Fuzhou and its largest prefe ...

Guangdong ) means "wide" or "vast", and has been associated with the region since the creation of Guang Prefecture in AD 226. The name "''Guang''" ultimately came from Guangxin ( zh, labels=no, first=t, t= , s=广信), an outpost established in Han dynasty ...

Guangxi Guangxi,; officially the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of the China, People's Republic of China, located in South China and bordering Vietnam (Hà Giang Province, Hà Giang, Cao Bằn ...

Hunan Hunan is an inland Provinces of China, province in Central China. Located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze watershed, it borders the Administrative divisions of China, province-level divisions of Hubei to the north, Jiangxi to the east, Gu ...

* '' Chionographis hisauchiana'' (Okuyama) N.Tanaka -

* '' Chionographis japonica'' (Willd.) Maxim. -

, Jeju-do * '' Chionographis koidzumiana'' Ohwi -

* ''

Chionographis merrilliana ''Chionographis'' is a genus of plants in the Melanthiaceae first described as a genus in 1867. This genus is native to China, Japan, and Korea. ''Chionographis'' species are perennial flowering plants that grow from rhizomes. They produce a b ...

'' H.Hara -

* '' Chionographis shiwandashanensis'' Y.Feng Huang & R.H.Jiang -

References

External links

Flora of China treatment
Melanthiaceae Melanthiaceae genera {{Liliales-stub