''Spatholirion'' is a genus of climbing or rosette

monocotyledon Monocotyledons (), commonly referred to as monocots, (Lilianae ''sensu'' Chase & Reveal) are grass and grass-like flowering plants (angiosperms), the seeds of which typically contain only one embryonic leaf, or cotyledon. They constitute one of ...

ous

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 dayflower family. It is distributed from

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 ...

in the north, south to

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

, and northern

Peninsular Malaysia Peninsular Malaysia ( ms, Semenanjung Malaysia; Jawi: سمننجڠ مليسيا), or the States of Malaya ( ms, Negeri-negeri Tanah Melayu; Jawi: نڬري-نڬري تانه ملايو), also known as West Malaysia or the Malaysian Peninsula, ...

.Flora of China Vol. 24 Page 20 竹叶吉祥草属 zhu ye ji xiang cao shu ''Spatholirion'' Ridley, J. Bot. 34: 329. 1896.
/ref> It has four to eight seeds per carpel, unlike the closely related '' Streptolirion'', which has only two, and white or purple petals. The

inflorescence An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed o ...

axis of ''Spatholirion longifolium'' and all of its branches are a bright purple, probably aiding in visual pollinator attraction. The genus was first described in 1896 by Henry Nicholas Ridley, the father of the commercial

rubber Rubber, also called India rubber, latex, Amazonian rubber, ''caucho'', or ''caoutchouc'', as initially produced, consists of polymers of the organic compound isoprene, with minor impurities of other organic compounds. Thailand, Malaysia, and ...

industry, from plants sent to

Kew Gardens Kew Gardens is a botanical garden, botanic garden in southwest London that houses the "largest and most diverse botany, botanical and mycology, mycological collections in the world". Founded in 1840, from the exotic garden at Kew Park, its li ...

from the

Malay Peninsula The Malay Peninsula (Malay: ''Semenanjung Tanah Melayu'') is a peninsula in Mainland Southeast Asia. The landmass runs approximately north–south, and at its terminus, it is the southernmost point of the Asian continental mainland. The area ...

near the border between

and

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

. All species have a

diploid Ploidy () is the number of complete sets of chromosomes in a cell, and hence the number of possible alleles for autosomal and pseudoautosomal genes. Sets of chromosomes refer to the number of maternal and paternal chromosome copies, respectively ...

chromosome A chromosome is a long DNA molecule with part or all of the genetic material of an organism. In most chromosomes the very long thin DNA fibers are coated with packaging proteins; in eukaryotic cells the most important of these proteins are ...

number of 20. ; Species * '' Spatholirion calcicola'' K.Larsen & S.S.Larsen - Thailand * '' Spatholirion decumbens'' Fukuoka & N.Kurosaki - Thailand * '' Spatholirion elegans'' (Cherfils) C.Y.Wu - Yunnan, Vietnam * '' Spatholirion longifolium'' (Gagnep.) Dunn - Vietnam, Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi, Sichuan, Yunnan * ''

Spatholirion ornatum ''Spatholirion'' is a genus of climbing or rosette monocotyledonous flowering plants in the dayflower family. It is distributed from China in the north, south to Thailand, Vietnam, and northern Peninsular Malaysia. It has four to eight seeds pe ...

'' Ridl. - Peninsular Malaysia * ''

Spatholirion puluongense ''Spatholirion'' is a genus of climbing or rosette monocotyledonous flowering plants in the dayflower family. It is distributed from China in the north, south to Thailand, Vietnam, and northern Peninsular Malaysia. It has four to eight seeds pe ...

'' Aver. - Vietnam

References

* * {{Taxonbar, from=Q5222064 Commelinaceae Commelinales genera Flora of China Flora of Indo-China Flora of Malesia