''Loropetalum'' is a genus of four species of

shrub A shrub or bush is a small to medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from trees by their multiple ...

s or small trees in the

witch-hazel Witch-hazels or witch hazels (''Hamamelis'') are a genus of flowering plants in the family Hamamelidaceae, with three species in North America ('' H. ovalis'', '' H. virginiana'', and '' H. vernalis''), and one each in Japan ('' H.&n ...

family,

Hamamelidaceae Hamamelidaceae, commonly referred to as the witch-hazel family, is a family of flowering plants in the order Saxifragales. The clade consists of shrubs and small trees positioned within the woody clade of the core Saxifragales. An earlier system ...

, 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 south-eastern

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

Description

Flower Flowers, also known as blooms and blossoms, are the reproductive structures of flowering plants ( angiosperms). Typically, they are structured in four circular levels, called whorls, around the end of a stalk. These whorls include: calyx, m ...

s are produced in clusters during spring and are similar to those of the closely related

. Each flower consists of four to six (depending on species) slender strap shaped petals 1–2 cm long.

Taxonomy

''Loropetalum'' is placed in tribe Loropetaleae, subfamily Hamamelidoideae, family

of the

Saxifragales Saxifragales is an order (biology), order of flowering plants in the Superrosids, superrosid clade of the eudicots. It contains 15 Families (biology), families and around 100 genera, with nearly 2,500 species. Well-known and economically import ...

Etymology

The name ''Loropetalum'' refers to the shape of the flowers and comes from the Greek ''loron'' meaning strap and ''petalon'' meaning petal.

Species

The species are: *''

Loropetalum chinense ''Loropetalum chinense'', commonly known as loropetalum,"Floridata Plan ...

'' - white-flowering variety up to 3.7 m tall, pink-flowering variety up to 1.5 m tall *'' Loropetalum flavum'' - yellow flowers *'' Loropetalum lanceum'' - up to 13 m tall, white flowers *'' Loropetalum subcordatum'' - up to 12 m tall

Description

Taxonomy

Etymology

Species

References

Bibliography

External links