:Stewartia'' as described by

Philibert Commerçon Philibert Commerson (; 18 November 1727 – 14 March 1773), sometimes spelled Commerçon by contemporaries, was a French naturalist, best known for accompanying Louis Antoine de Bougainville on his voyage of circumnavigation in 1766–1769. ...

is a synonym of ''

Dombeya ''Dombeya'' is a flowering plant genus. Traditionally included in the family Sterculiaceae, it is included in the expanded Malvaceae in the APG and most subsequent systematics. These plants are known by a number of vernacular names which sometim ...

''Stewartia'' (sometimes spelled ''Stuartia''Sprague, T.A. (1928). The correct spelling of certain generic names. III. ''Kew Bulletin'' 1928: 337-365.Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. ''Vascular Plant Families and Genera''
Theaceae
Bean, W. J. (1980). ''Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles'' 4: 507-513. .Rushforth, K. (1999). ''Collins Photographic Guide to Trees''. .) is a genus of 8-20 species of flowering plants in the family Theaceae, related to '' Camellia''. Most of the species are native to eastern Asia in

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 ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

, Korea,

Laos Laos (, ''Lāo'' )), officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic ( Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ, French: République démocratique populaire lao), is a socialist ...

Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John C. Wells, Joh ...

, Thailand, and Vietnam, with two (''S. malacodendron, S. ovata'') in 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 and Kentucky south to Florida and Louisiana.Li, J., Del Tredici, P., Yang, S., & Donoghue, M. J. (2002). Phylogenetic relationships and biogeography of Stewartia (Camellioideae, Theaceae) inferred from nuclear ribosomal DNA ITS sequences. ''Rhodora'' 104: 117-133
pdf file
. They are

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 and trees, mostly deciduous, though some species (e.g. ''S. pteropetiolata'') are evergreen; the evergreen species form a genetically distinct group and are split into a separate genus ''Hartia'' by some botanists, but others retain them within ''Stewartia''.''Flora of China'
draft account of Theaceae
/ref> The Asian species include both shrubs and trees, growing to 3–20 m tall, while the American species are shrubs growing 3–5 m tall, rarely becoming small trees. The

bark Bark may refer to: * Bark (botany), an outer layer of a woody plant such as a tree or stick * Bark (sound), a vocalization of some animals (which is commonly the dog) Places * Bark, Germany * Bark, Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, Poland Arts, ...

is very distinctive, smooth orange to yellow-brown, peeling in fine flakes. 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, usually glossy, and 3–14 cm long. The flowers are large and conspicuous, 3–11 cm diameter, with 5 (occasionally 6-8) white petals; flowering is in mid to late summer. The fruit is a dry five-valved capsule, with one to four seeds 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 ...

ic soils, and do not grow well on chalk or other calcium-rich soils. They also have a high rainfall requirement and will not tolerate drought.

Etymology

The genus was named in 1753 by Carl Linnaeus to honour John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute. Owing to a transcription error, Linnaeus was given the name as 'Stewart', and consequently spelled the name "Stewartia" (and continued to do so in all his subsequent publications). Some botanists and horticulturists, mainly in the pastL'Héritier de Brutelle, C. L. (1785). ''Stirpes Novae aut Minus Cognitae'' (cited by W. J. Bean 1980).

Siebold, P. F. von Philipp Franz Balthasar von Siebold (17 February 1796 – 18 October 1866) was a German physician, botanist and traveler. He achieved prominence by his studies of Japanese flora and fauna and the introduction of Western medicine in Japan. He was ...

, &

Zuccarini, J. G. Joseph Gerhard Zuccarini (10 August 1797 – 18 February 1848) was a German botanist, Professor of Botany at the University of Munich. He worked extensively with Philipp Franz von Siebold, assisting in describing his collections from Japan, but al ...

(1835). ''Flora Japonica'' 1: 181, t.96
Facsimile
Dippel, L. (1889). ''Handbuch der Laubholzkunde''. Darmstadt

but still widely in the UK have interpreted Article 60 of the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature to consider "Stewartia" an orthographical error to be corrected to ''Stuartia'', but this type of correction has been discouraged by changes to the code in recent times. During the 19th century, the spelling ''Stuartia'' was "almost universally" used. However, the original spelling "Stewartia" has been accepted by virtually all systematic botanists in recent treatments of the family Chang, H. & Ren, S. (1998). Theaceae/Theoideae. ''Flora Reipublicae Popularis Sinicae'' 49 (3).Stevens, P. F., Dressler, S. & Weitzman, A. L. (2004). Theaceae. In K. Kubitzki (ed.), ''Families and Genera of Vascular Plants'' 6: 463-471. and genus Spongberg, S. A. (1974). A review of deciduous-leaved ''Stewartia'' (Theaceae). ''Journal of the Arnold Arboretum'' 55: 182-214.Li, J. (1996). Systematic study on the genera ''Stewartia'' and ''Hartia'' (Theaceae). ''Acta Phytotaxonomica Sinica'' 34: 48–67.Prince, L. M. (2002). Circumscription and biogeographic patterns in the Eastern North American-East Asian genus ''Stewartia'' (Theaceae: Stewartieae): insight from chloroplast and nuclear DNA sequence data. ''Castanea'' 67: 290-301. as well as in numerous influential horticultural publications.Huxley, A., ed. (1992). ''New Royal Horticultural Society Dictionary of Gardening.''

Cultivation and uses

Several species of ''Stewartia'' are grown as ornamental plants for their very decorative smooth orange bark and their flowers produced at a time of year when few other trees are in flower.

Species

The following species are accepted: *''Stewartia acutisepala'' P.L.Chiu & G.R.Zhong *''Stewartia calcicola'' T.L.Ming & J.Li *''Stewartia cordifolia'' (H.L.Li) J.Li & T.L.Ming *''Stewartia crassifolia'' (S.Z.Yan) J.Li & T.L.Ming *''Stewartia densivillosa'' (Hu ex Hung T.Chang & C.X.Ye) J.Li & T.L.Ming *''Stewartia laotica'' (Gagnep.) J.Li & T.L.Ming *''Stewartia malacodendron'' L. *''Stewartia medogensis'' J.Li & T.L.Ming *''Stewartia micrantha'' (Chun) Sealy *''Stewartia monadelpha'' Siebold & Zucc. *''Stewartia obovata'' (Chun ex Hung T.Chang) J.Li & T.L.Ming *''Stewartia ovata'' (Cav.) Weath. *''Stewartia pseudocamellia'' Maxim. *''Stewartia pteropetiolata'' W.C.Cheng *''Stewartia rostrata'' Spongberg *''Stewartia rubiginosa'' Hung T.Chang *''Stewartia serrata'' Maxim. *''Stewartia sichuanensis'' (S.Z.Yan) J.Li & T.L.Ming *''Stewartia sinensis'' Rehder & E.H.Wilson *''Stewartia sinii'' (Y.C.Wu) Sealy *''Stewartia tonkinensis'' (Merr.) C.Y.Wu ex J.Li *''Stewartia villosa'' Merr.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q388277 Stewartia, Ericales genera