Symplocos


Symplocos is a genus of flowering plants in the order Ericales. It contains about 300 species distributed in Asia and the Americas. Many species grow in humid tropical regions. This is sometimes considered to be the only genus in family Symplocaceae. Plants in this family are shrubs and trees with white or yellow flowers. The oldest fossils of the genus date to the lower Eocene of Europe and North America, with the genus being present in Europe as late as the Pliocene. Fossil seeds of †Symplocos granulosa are frequent in sediment rock layers of the Late Oligocene to the Late Miocene of Denmark, Germany, Austria and Poland. The fossil seeds are very similar to the seeds of the extan southern Chinese species Symplocos glandulifera and Symplocos sulcata. Fossil seeds of †Symplocos paucicostata are known from the Middle Pliocene sediment rock layers in Reuver, the Netherlands and from the Late Pliocene sediment rock layers in northern Italy. The fossil seeds are very similar to the seeds of the extant East Asian species Symplocos paniculata.

Selected species

Symplocos adenophyllaSymplocos ampulliformis — Northeast Queensland, AustraliaSymplocos anamallayanaSymplocos anomalaSymplocos austromexicana — deciduous shrub up to 2m; narrow endemic, Oaxaca, MexicoSymplocos badiaSymplocos baehniiSymplocos barberiSymplocos bauerlenii — shrub or small tree up to 7m; eastern AustraliaSymplocos blancaeSymplocos bractealisSymplocos breedloveiSymplocos calycodactylosSymplocos candelabrum — tree up to 13m; Lord Howe IslandSymplocos canescensSymplocos carmencitaeSymplocos chloroleucaSymplocos clethrifoliaSymplocos citreaSymplocos coccineaSymplocos cochinchinensisSymplocos cordifoliaSri LankaSymplocos coreana — Korean sweetleaf, deciduous shrub up to 5m; Japan, KoreaSymplocos coronataSri LankaSymplocos costaricanaCentral AmericaSymplocos costataSymplocos crassiramifera — Northeast Queensland, AustraliaSymplocos cuneataSri LankaSymplocos cyanocarpa — Northeast Queensland, AustraliaSymplocos ecuadorica – EcuadorSymplocos foliosa - Endemic to the Western Ghats of IndiaSymplocos fuscataSymplocos glaucaevergreen tree up to 15m; Japan, Taiwan, China, IndochinaSymplocos graniticola — Northeast Queensland, AustraliaSymplocos hayesii — Northeast Queensland, AustraliaSymplocos henscheliiSymplocos hispidulaSymplocos hylandii — Northeast Queensland, AustraliaSymplocos junghuhnii