''Meliosma'' is a

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (). The term angiosperm is derived from the Ancient Greek, Greek words (; 'container, vessel') and (; 'seed'), meaning that the seeds are enclosed with ...

s in the family

Sabiaceae Sabiaceae is a family of flowering plants that were placed in the order Proteales according to the APG IV system. It comprises three genera, '' Meliosma'', '' Ophiocaryon'' and '' Sabia'', with 66 known species, native to tropical to warm temper ...

, native to tropical to warm temperate regions of southern and 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 ...

and the

Americas The Americas, sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North America and South America.''Webster's New World College Dictionary'', 2010 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio. When viewed as a sing ...

. It is traditionally considered to contain about 100

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

; some botanists take a much more conservative view accepting only 20-25 species as distinct. They are

tree In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, e.g., including only woody plants with secondary growth, only ...

s or

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, growing to 10–45 m tall.

Fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserve ...

evidence shows the genus formerly had a much wider range in the

Northern Hemisphere The Northern Hemisphere is the half of Earth that is north of the equator. For other planets in the Solar System, north is defined by humans as being in the same celestial sphere, celestial hemisphere relative to the invariable plane of the Solar ...

, including Europe and central Asia until the late

Pliocene The Pliocene ( ; also Pleiocene) is the epoch (geology), epoch in the geologic time scale that extends from 5.33 to 2.58ice age An ice age is a long period of reduction in the temperature of Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Earth's climate alternates between ice ages, and g ...

s, and somewhat earlier in North America. At least 17 species of Meliosma are known from

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

. The Indian awlking (''Choaspes benjaminii'') is one of the

Lepidoptera Lepidoptera ( ) or lepidopterans is an order (biology), order of winged insects which includes butterflies and moths. About 180,000 species of the Lepidoptera have been described, representing 10% of the total described species of living organ ...

whose

caterpillars Caterpillars ( ) are the larval stage of members of the order Lepidoptera (the insect order comprising butterflies and moths). As with most common names, the application of the word is arbitrary, since the larvae of sawflies (suborder Sym ...

feed on ''Meliosma''; they have been found on '' M. pungens'', '' rhoifolia'', '' M. rigida'', and '' M. squamulata''.

Selected species

Asia * ''

Meliosma angustifolia ''Meliosma'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Sabiaceae, native to tropical to warm temperate regions of southern and eastern Asia and the Americas. It is traditionally considered to contain about 100 species; some botanists take a ...

'' * ''

Meliosma arnottiana ''Meliosma'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Sabiaceae, native to tropical to warm temperate regions of southern and eastern Asia and the Americas. It is traditionally considered to contain about 100 species; some botanists take a ...

'' (syn. ''Wellingtonia arnottiana'') * ''

Meliosma beaniana ''Meliosma'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Sabiaceae, native to tropical to warm temperate regions of southern and eastern Asia and the Americas. It is traditionally considered to contain about 100 species; some botanists take a ...

'' * ''

Meliosma bifida ''Meliosma'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Sabiaceae, native to tropical to warm temperate regions of southern and eastern Asia and the Americas. It is traditionally considered to contain about 100 species; some botanists take a ...

'' * ''

Meliosma callicarpaefolia ''Meliosma'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Sabiaceae, native to tropical to warm temperate regions of southern and eastern Asia and the Americas. It is traditionally considered to contain about 100 species; some botanists take a ...

'' * ''

Meliosma cuneifolia ''Meliosma'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Sabiaceae, native to tropical to warm temperate regions of southern and eastern Asia and the Americas. It is traditionally considered to contain about 100 species; some botanists take a ...

'' * '' Meliosma dentata'' * '' Meliosma dilleniifolia'' * '' Meliosma dumicola'' * '' Meliosma flexuosa'' * '' Meliosma fordii'' * '' Meliosma glandulosa'' * '' Meliosma henryi'' * '' Meliosma kirkii'' * '' Meliosma laui'' * '' Meliosma longipes'' * '' Meliosma myriantha'' * '' Meliosma oldhamii'' * '' Meliosma parviflora'' * '' Meliosma paupera'' * '' Meliosma pinnata'' * ''

Meliosma pungens ''Meliosma'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Sabiaceae, native to tropical to warm temperate regions of southern and eastern Asia and the Americas. It is traditionally considered to contain about 100 species; some botanists take a ...

'' * ''

Meliosma rhoifolia ''Meliosma'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Sabiaceae, native to tropical to warm temperate regions of southern and eastern Asia and the Americas. It is traditionally considered to contain about 100 species; some botanists take a ...

'' * ''

Meliosma rigida ''Meliosma rigida'', the stiff-leaved meliosma, is a species of flowering plant in the family Sabiaceae Sabiaceae is a family of flowering plants that were placed in the order Proteales according to the APG IV system. It comprises three gener ...

'' * ''

Meliosma simplicifolia ''Meliosma simplicifolia'' is a species of plant in the family Sabiaceae Sabiaceae is a family of flowering plants that were placed in the order Proteales according to the APG IV system. It comprises three genera, '' Meliosma'', '' Ophiocaryo ...

'' * ''

Meliosma squamulata ''Meliosma'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Sabiaceae, native to tropical to warm temperate regions of southern and eastern Asia and the Americas. It is traditionally considered to contain about 100 species; some botanists take a ...

'' * '' Meliosma sumatrana'' * '' Meliosma thomsonii'' * '' Meliosma thorelii'' * ''

Meliosma veitchiorum ''Meliosma'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Sabiaceae, native to tropical to warm temperate regions of southern and eastern Asia and the Americas. It is traditionally considered to contain about 100 species; some botanists take a ...

'' * '' Meliosma velutina'' * '' Meliosma yunnanensis'' Americas * '' Meliosma alba'' * †'' Meliosma beusekomii'' * '' Meliosma bogotana'' * '' Meliosma brasiliensis''

Urb. Ignatz Urban (7 January 1848 – 7 January 1931) was a German botany, botanist. He is known for his contributions to the flora of the Caribbean and Brazil, and for his work as curator of the Botanical Garden in Berlin, Berlin Botanical Garden. B ...

* '' Meliosma cordata'' * '' Meliosma frondosa'' * '' Meliosma glaziovii'' * '' Meliosma herbertii'' * '' Meliosma itatiaiae'' * '' Meliosma linearifolia'' * '' Meliosma littlei'' * '' Meliosma meridensis'' * '' Meliosma nesites'' * '' Meliosma sellowii'' * '' Meliosma sinuata'' * '' Meliosma sirensis'' * '' Meliosma vernicosa'' * '' Meliosma youngii''

Fossil record

endocarp Fruits are the mature ovary or ovaries of one or more flowers. They are found in three main anatomical categories: aggregate fruits, multiple fruits, and simple fruits. Fruitlike structures may develop directly from the seed itself rather th ...

s from the early

Miocene The Miocene ( ) is the first epoch (geology), geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and mea ...

of '' Meliosma wetteraviensis'', have been found in the

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus *Czech (surnam ...

part of the

Zittau Zittau (; ; ; ; ; Lusatian dialects, Upper Lusatian dialect: ''Sitte''; ) is the southeasternmost city in the Germany, German state of Saxony, and belongs to the Görlitz (district), district of Görlitz, Germany's easternmost Districts of Germ ...

Basin.

Stratigraphical Stratigraphy is a branch of geology concerned with the study of rock layers (strata) and layering (stratification). It is primarily used in the study of sedimentary and layered volcanic rocks. Stratigraphy has three related subfields: lithostrati ...

range of this taxon is from the late

Oligocene The Oligocene ( ) is a geologic epoch (geology), epoch of the Paleogene Geologic time scale, Period that extends from about 33.9 million to 23 million years before the present ( to ). As with other older geologic periods, the rock beds that defin ...

Pliocene The Pliocene ( ; also Pleiocene) is the epoch (geology), epoch in the geologic time scale that extends from 5.33 to 2.58Western Europe Western Europe is the western region of Europe. The region's extent varies depending on context. The concept of "the West" appeared in Europe in juxtaposition to "the East" and originally applied to the Western half of the ancient Mediterranean ...

and

Siberia Siberia ( ; , ) is an extensive geographical region comprising all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has formed a part of the sovereign territory of Russia and its predecessor states ...

. Additional ''Meliosma'' fossils have been found in the middle Eocene

Clarno Formation John Day Fossil Beds National Monument is a National monument (United States), U.S. national monument in Wheeler County, Oregon, Wheeler and Grant County, Oregon, Grant counties in east-central Oregon. Located within the John Day River basin an ...

Oregon, USA Oregon ( , ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington, while the Snake River delineates much o ...

,. and the Paleocene

Fort Union Formation The Fort Union Formation is a geologic unit containing sandstones, shales, and coal beds in Wyoming, Montana, and parts of adjacent states. In the Powder River Basin, it contains important economic deposits of coal, uranium, and coalbed methane. ...

Wyoming Wyoming ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States, Western United States. It borders Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho t ...

References

External links

Flora of Pakistan: ''Meliosma''Flora of China: ''Meliosma'' species listFlora of Ecuador: ''Meliosma''IAC Herbarium (Brazil): ''Meliosma'' species list
Eudicot genera {{eudicot-stub

Selected species

Fossil record

References

Further reading

External links