''Rhodomyrtus'' is a group of shrubs and trees in the family
Myrtaceae
Myrtaceae, the myrtle family, is a family of dicotyledonous plants placed within the order Myrtales. Myrtle, pōhutukawa, bay rum tree, clove, guava, acca (feijoa), allspice, and eucalyptus are some notable members of this group. All speci ...
described as a genus in 1841.
[Tropicos, ''Rhodomyrtus'' (DC.) Rchb.]
/ref>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 ...
, the Indian Subcontinent, Southeast Asia, Melanesia, and Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
.[Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families]
/ref>
Its greatest levels of diversity are on New Guinea and in northeastern Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
. DNA sequence data and morphological data indicate that the genus is artificial (polyphyletic). Additional studies are needed before it can be split into two or more smaller monophyletic
In cladistics for a group of organisms, monophyly is the condition of being a clade—that is, a group of taxa composed only of a common ancestor (or more precisely an ancestral population) and all of its lineal descendants. Monophyletic gro ...
genera.[Snow, N., J. McFadden, J. P. Atwood. 2008. Three new species of ''Rhodomyrtus'' (DC.) Rchb. (Myrtaceae) from Papua New Guinea. Austrobaileya 7: 691-706.]
;Species[
]
References
Myrtaceae genera
Taxa named by Augustin Pyramus de Candolle
{{Myrtaceae-stub