''Meliosma'' 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

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 temperat ...

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

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 ...

and the

Americas The Americas, which are sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North and South America. The Americas make up most of the land in Earth's Western Hemisphere and comprise the New World. Along with th ...

. It is traditionally considered to contain about 100

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

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

s or

shrub A shrub (often also called a 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 ...

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 preserved ...

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 as being in the same celestial hemisphere relative to the invariable plane of the solar system as Earth's Nort ...

, including Europe and central Asia until the late

Pliocene The Pliocene ( ; also Pleiocene) is the epoch in the geologic time scale that extends from 5.333 million 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 gree ...

s, and somewhat earlier in North America. Meliosma symbolises Peruvian

cloud forest A cloud forest, also called a water forest, primas forest, or tropical montane cloud forest (TMCF), is a generally tropical or subtropical, evergreen, montane, moist forest characterized by a persistent, frequent or seasonal low-level cloud c ...

plants which, once did not have even a single species of

. Now,at least 17 species of Meliosma are known from

Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = Seal (emblem), National seal , national_motto = "Fi ...

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

Lepidoptera Lepidoptera ( ) is an order (biology), order of insects that includes butterfly, butterflies and moths (both are called lepidopterans). About 180,000 species of the Lepidoptera are described, in 126 Family (biology), families and 46 Taxonomic r ...

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 Symph ...

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'' 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 beusekomii'' * '' Meliosma bogotana'' * '' Meliosma brasiliensis''

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

* '' 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 Fruit anatomy is the plant anatomy of the internal structure of fruit. 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. Agg ...

s from the early

Miocene The Miocene ( ) is the first 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 means "less recen ...

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' Places *Czech, ...

part of the

Zittau Zittau ( hsb, Žitawa, dsb, Žytawa, pl, Żytawa, cs, Žitava, :de:Oberlausitzer Mundart, Upper Lusatian Dialect: ''Sitte''; from Slavic languages, Slavic "''rye''" (Upper Sorbian and Czech: ''žito'', Lower Sorbian: ''žyto'', Polish: ''żyto' ...

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 of the Paleogene Period and extends from about 33.9 million to 23 million years before the present ( to ). As with other older geologic periods, the rock beds that define the epoch are well identified but the ...

Pliocene The Pliocene ( ; also Pleiocene) is the epoch in the geologic time scale that extends from 5.333 million to 2.58Western Europe Western Europe is the western region of Europe. The region's countries and territories vary depending on context. The concept of "the West" appeared in Europe in juxtaposition to "the East" and originally applied to the ancient Mediterranean ...

and

Siberia Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a part of ...

. Acta Palaeobotanica - 43(1): 9-49, January 2003 - Early Miocene carpological material from the Czech part of the Zittau Basin - Vasilis Teodoridis

Footnotes

References

* (1971): Revision of ''Meliosma'' (Sabiaceae), section ''Lorenzanea'' excepted, living and fossil, geography and phylogeny. ''Blumea'' 19: 355–529.

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