''Rhodoleia'' is a genus of
plant
Plants are predominantly photosynthetic eukaryotes of the kingdom Plantae. Historically, the plant kingdom encompassed all living things that were not animals, and included algae and fungi; however, all current definitions of Plantae exclud ...
s in the family
Hamamelidaceae
Hamamelidaceae, commonly referred to as the witch-hazel family, is a family of flowering plants in the order Saxifragales. The clade consists of shrubs and small trees positioned within the woody clade of the core Saxifragales. An earlier system ...
. Together with its sister genus ''
Exbucklandia
''Exbucklandia'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Hamamelidaceae.Peter K. Endress. 1993. "Hamamelidaceae". pages 322-331. In: Klaus Kubitzki (editor); Jens G. Rohwer, and Volker Bittrich (volume editors). ''The Families and Genera of ...
'', ''Rhodoleia'' forms the sister clade to the other 25 genera of Hamamelidaceae. Flowers of ''Rhodoleia'' are bird-pollinated. Nectar-foraging birds including
Japanese white-eye
The warbling white-eye (''Zosterops japonicus''), also known as the Japanese white-eye and mountain white-eye, is a small passerine bird in the white-eye family. The specific epithet is occasionally written ''japonica'', but this is incorrect due ...
s (''Zosterops japonicus'', Zosteropidae) and
fork-tailed sunbird
The fork-tailed sunbird (''Aethopyga christinae'') is a bird in the family Nectariniidae. The species was first described by Robert Swinhoe in 1869.
It is found in China, Hong Kong, Laos, and Vietnam.
Its natural habitat is subtropical or ...
s (''Aethopyga christinae'', Nectariniidae), avidly visit the flowers, which they also pollinate in the process.
[Gu, L., Z. Luo, D. Zhang, and S. S. Renner. 2010. Passerine pollination of ''Rhodoleia championii'' (Hamamelidaceae) in subtropical China. Biotropica 42(3): 336–341.]
Species include:
*''
Rhodoleia championii
''Rhodoleia championii'', the Hong Kong rose, is a species of plant in the family Hamamelidaceae. It is a small evergreen tree with dangling scarlet flowers that are pollinated primarily by birds, and is found in China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanm ...
''
*''
Rhodoleia henryi
''Rhodoleia'' is a genus of plants in the family Hamamelidaceae. Together with its sister genus '' Exbucklandia'', ''Rhodoleia'' forms the sister clade to the other 25 genera of Hamamelidaceae. Flowers of ''Rhodoleia'' are bird-pollinated. Necta ...
''
*''
Rhodoleia macrocarpa
''Rhodoleia'' is a genus of plants in the family Hamamelidaceae. Together with its sister genus '' Exbucklandia'', ''Rhodoleia'' forms the sister clade to the other 25 genera of Hamamelidaceae. Flowers of ''Rhodoleia'' are bird-pollinated. Necta ...
''
*''
Rhodoleia stenopetala
''Rhodoleia'' is a genus of plants in the family Hamamelidaceae. Together with its sister genus '' Exbucklandia'', ''Rhodoleia'' forms the sister clade to the other 25 genera of Hamamelidaceae. Flowers of ''Rhodoleia'' are bird-pollinated. Necta ...
''
References
External links
Flora of China
Hamamelidaceae
Saxifragales genera
Taxonomy articles created by Polbot
{{Saxifragales-stub