''Gordonia'' is a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. The term "angiosperm" is derived from the Greek words ('container, vessel') and ('seed'), and refers to those plants th ...

s in the family

Theaceae Theaceae (), the tea family, is a family (biology), 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 genus, genera ...

, related to ''

Franklinia ''Franklinia'' is a monotypic genus in the tea family, Theaceae. The sole species in this genus is a flowering tree, ''Franklinia alatamaha'', commonly called the Franklin tree, and native to the Altamaha River valley in Georgia in the southeast ...

'', ''

Camellia ''Camellia'' (pronounced or ) is a genus of flowering plants in the family Theaceae. They are found in eastern and southern Asia, from the Himalayas east to Japan and Indonesia. There are more than 220 described species, with some controversy ...

'' and ''

Stewartia :Stewartia'' as described by Philibert Commerçon is a synonym of ''Dombeya. ''Stewartia'' (sometimes spelled ''Stuartia''Sprague, T.A. (1928). The correct spelling of certain generic names. III. ''Kew Bulletin'' 1928: 337-365.Royal Botanic Gar ...

''. Of the roughly 40 species, all but two are native to southeast

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...

in southern

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

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

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 ...

. The remaining species, ''G. lasianthus'' (

Loblolly-bay ''Gordonia lasianthus'' (loblolly-bay, holly-bay, gordonia, or bay) is a small to medium-sized evergreen tree or shrub found in acidic, swampy soils of pinelands and bays on the Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Plains of the southeastern United States. ...

), is native to southeast

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

, from

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

south to

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

and west to

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...

; ''G. fruticosa'' is native to the

tropical rainforest Tropical rainforests are rainforests that occur in areas of tropical rainforest climate in which there is no dry season – all months have an average precipitation of at least 60 mm – and may also be referred to as ''lowland equatori ...

s of Central and South America, from Costa Rica to Brazil. They are

evergreen In botany, an evergreen is a plant which has foliage that remains green and functional through more than one growing season. This also pertains to plants that retain their foliage only in warm climates, and contrasts with deciduous plants, which ...

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, including only woody plants with secondary growth, plants that are ...

s, growing to 10–20 m tall. The bark is thick and deeply fissured. The

leaves A leaf (plural, : leaves) is any of the principal appendages of a vascular plant plant stem, stem, usually borne laterally aboveground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", wh ...

are alternately arranged, simple, serrated, thick, leathery, glossy, and 6–18 cm long. The

flower A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants (plants of the division Angiospermae). The biological function of a flower is to facilitate reproduction, usually by providing a mechani ...

s are large and conspicuous, 4–15 cm diameter, with 5 (occasionally 6-8) white petals; flowering is in late winter or early spring. The

fruit In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants that is formed from the ovary after flowering. Fruits are the means by which flowering plants (also known as angiosperms) disseminate their seeds. Edible fruits in particu ...

is a dry five-valved capsule, with 1-4

seed A seed is an embryonic plant enclosed in a protective outer covering, along with a food reserve. The formation of the seed is a part of the process of reproduction in seed plants, the spermatophytes, including the gymnosperm and angiospe ...

s in each section. The species are adapted to

acid In computer science, ACID ( atomicity, consistency, isolation, durability) is a set of properties of database transactions intended to guarantee data validity despite errors, power failures, and other mishaps. In the context of databases, a sequ ...

soil Soil, also commonly referred to as earth or dirt, is a mixture of organic matter, minerals, gases, liquids, and organisms that together support life. Some scientific definitions distinguish ''dirt'' from ''soil'' by restricting the former te ...

s, and do not grow well on

chalk Chalk is a soft, white, porous, sedimentary carbonate rock. It is a form of limestone composed of the mineral calcite and originally formed deep under the sea by the compression of microscopic plankton that had settled to the sea floor. Chalk ...

or other

calcium Calcium is a chemical element with the symbol Ca and atomic number 20. As an alkaline earth metal, calcium is a reactive metal that forms a dark oxide-nitride layer when exposed to air. Its physical and chemical properties are most similar to ...

-rich soils. They also have a high

rain Rain is water droplets that have condensed from atmospheric water vapor and then fall under gravity. Rain is a major component of the water cycle and is responsible for depositing most of the fresh water on the Earth. It provides water f ...

fall requirement and will not tolerate

drought A drought is defined as drier than normal conditions.Douville, H., K. Raghavan, J. Renwick, R.P. Allan, P.A. Arias, M. Barlow, R. Cerezo-Mota, A. Cherchi, T.Y. Gan, J. Gergis, D. Jiang, A. Khan, W. Pokam Mba, D. Rosenfeld, J. Tierney, an ...

. Some botanists include ''Franklinia'' within ''Gordonia'', even though recent phylogenetic studies show that ''Franklinias closest living relationship is with the Asian genera ''

Schima ''Schima'' is a genus of evergreen trees belonging to the tea family, Theaceae. The genus inhabits warm temperate to subtropical climates across southern and southeastern Asia, from the eastern Himalaya of Nepal and eastern India across Indochin ...

'' and not ''Gordonia''; it differs in being

deciduous In the fields of horticulture and Botany, the term ''deciduous'' () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, aft ...

and flowering in late summer, not late winter. The draft ''Flora of China'' account of Theaceae in China splits ''Gordonia'' into two genera, with ''G. lasianthus'' retained in ''Gordonia'', and the Asian species transferred to ''Polyspora''; this treatment is not yet widely accepted. ''Gordonia chrysandra'' may have anti-inflammatory medicinal properties.

Species

There are about 40 species, including: *'' Gordonia anomala'' *'' Gordonia balansae'' *''

Gordonia ceylanica ''Gordonia ceylanica'' is a species of plant in the family Theaceae. It is endemic to Sri Lanka. Culture It is known as "සුදු මිහිරිය - sudu mihiriya" in Sinhala. Chemical constituents The plant contains the oleanane-type ...

'' *'' Gordonia curtyana'' *'' Gordonia fruticosa'' *'' Gordonia hirta'' *'' Gordonia hirtella'' *'' Gordonia javanica'' *''

Gordonia lasianthus ''Gordonia lasianthus'' (loblolly-bay, holly-bay, gordonia, or bay) is a small to medium-sized evergreen tree or shrub found in acidic, swampy soils of pinelands and bays on the Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Plains of the southeastern United States. ...

'' *'' Gordonia maingayi'' *'' Gordonia multinervis'' *'' Gordonia penangensis'' *'' Gordonia scortechinii'' *'' Gordonia shimidae'' *'' Gordonia sinensis'' *'' Gordonia singaporeana'' *'' Gordonia speciosa'' *'' Gordonia tagawae'' *'' Gordonia taipingensis'' *''

Gordonia villosa ''Gordonia villosa'' is a species of plant in the family Theaceae. It is endemic to Jamaica. References villosa ''Villosa'' is a genus of freshwater mussels, aquatic bivalve molluscs in the family Unionidae The Unionidae are a family ...

'' *'' Gordonia wallichii'' *'' Gordonia yunnanensis'' Gordonia species from

East Asia East Asia is the eastern region of Asia, which is defined in both geographical and ethno-cultural terms. The modern states of East Asia include China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan. China, North Korea, South Korea and ...

were transferred to

Polyspora 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 sourc ...

, including: *'' Polyspora acuminata'' *'' Polyspora axillaris'' *'' Polyspora chrysandra'' *'' Polyspora hainanensis'' *'' Polyspora kwangsiensis'' *'' Polyspora longicarpa'' *'' Polyspora tiantangensis'' *'' Polyspora tonkinensis''

Cultivation and uses

Several species of ''Gordonia'' are grown as ornamental plants for their flowers produced in winter when few other trees are in flower. They are however difficult to grow compared to the similar but generally smaller-growing camellias.

References

External links

''Flora of China'': draft text of Theaceae
{{Taxonbar, from=Q134723 Ericales genera