The Styracaceae are a small

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

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 order

Ericales The Ericales are a large and diverse order of dicotyledons. Species in this order have considerable commercial importance including for Camellia sinensis, tea, persimmon, blueberry, kiwifruit, Brazil nuts, Argania, argan, and azalea. The order i ...

, containing 12 genera and about 160 species of

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 and

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. The family occurs in warm temperate and subtropical regions of 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 ...

. The family is characterised by spirally arranged simple

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 ...

with no

stipule In botany, a stipule is an outgrowth typically borne on both sides (sometimes on just one side) of the base of a leafstalk (the petiole). Stipules are considered part of the anatomy of the leaf of a typical flowering plant, although in many speci ...

s; symmetrical white

flower A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants (plants of the division Angiospermae). The biological function of a flower is to facilitate reproduction, usually by providing a mechani ...

s with a corolla of two to five (sometimes seven) fused petals; and the

fruit In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants that is formed from the ovary after flowering. Fruits are the means by which flowering plants (also known as angiosperms) disseminate their seeds. Edible fruits in particu ...

usually is a dry capsule, sometimes winged, less often a fleshy

drupe In botany, a drupe (or stone fruit) is an indehiscent fruit in which an outer fleshy part (exocarp, or skin, and mesocarp, or flesh) surrounds a single shell (the ''pit'', ''stone'', or '' pyrena'') of hardened endocarp with a seed (''kernel'') ...

, with one or two

seed A seed is an embryonic plant enclosed in a protective outer covering, along with a food reserve. The formation of the seed is a part of the process of reproduction in seed plants, the spermatophytes, including the gymnosperm and angiospe ...

s. Most are large shrubs to small trees 3–15 m tall, but ''Halesia monticola'' (''H. carolina'' var. ''monticola'') is larger, with trees 39 m tall known in the

Great Smoky Mountains National Park Great Smoky Mountains National Park is an American national park in the southeastern United States, with parts in North Carolina and Tennessee. The park straddles the ridgeline of the Great Smoky Mountains, part of the Blue Ridge Mountains, whi ...

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...

Genera

Several genera include species popular as

ornamental tree Ornamental plants or garden plants are plants that are primarily grown for their beauty but also for qualities such as scent or how they shape physical space. Many flowering plants and garden varieties tend to be specially bred cultivars that i ...

s valued for their decorative white flowers.

Benzoin resin Benzoin or benjamin (corrupted pronunciation) is a balsamic resin obtained from the bark of several species of trees in the genus ''Styrax''. It is used in perfumes and some kinds of incense and as a flavoring and medicine (see tincture of benz ...

, used in

herbal medicine Herbal medicine (also herbalism) is the study of pharmacognosy and the use of medicinal plants, which are a basis of traditional medicine. With worldwide research into pharmacology, some herbal medicines have been translated into modern remed ...

and

perfume Perfume (, ; french: parfum) is a mixture of fragrant essential oils or aroma compounds (fragrances), fixatives and solvents, usually in liquid form, used to give the human body, animals, food, objects, and living-spaces an agreeable scent. Th ...

s, is extracted from the bark of ''

Styrax ''Styrax'' (common names storax or snowbell) is a genus of about 130 species of large shrubs or small trees in the family Styracaceae, mostly native to warm temperate to tropical regions of the Northern Hemisphere, with the majority in eastern ...

'' species. ;Genera *'' Alniphyllum'' Matsum. (three species) *'' Bruinsmia'' Boer. & Koord. (two species) *'' Changiostyrax'' C.T.Chen (one species) *''

Halesia ''Halesia'', also known as silverbell or snowdrop tree, is a small genus of four or five species of deciduous large shrubs or small trees in the family Styracaceae. Range They are native to eastern Asia (southeast China) and eastern North Amer ...

'' J.Ellis ex L. (three to five species) *'' Huodendron'' Rehder (four species) *'' Melliodendron'' Hand.-Mazz. (one species) *'' Parastyrax'' W.W.Sm. (two species) *''

Perkinsiodendron ''Perkinsiodendron'' is a genus of 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, ...

'' P.W.Fritsch (one species) *''

Pterostyrax ''Pterostyrax'', the epaulette tree, is a small genus of four species of deciduous large shrubs or small trees in the family Styracaceae, native to eastern Asia in China and Japan. They grow tall, with alternate, simple ovate leaves long and ...

'' Siebold & Zucc. (four species) *'' Rehderodendron'' Hu (five species) *'' Sinojackia'' Hu (five species) *''

'' L. (about 130 species) The genus ''Pamphilia'', sometimes regarded as distinct, is now included within ''Styrax'' on genetic data.

Phylogenetic In biology, phylogenetics (; from Greek φυλή/ φῦλον [] "tribe, clan, race", and wikt:γενετικός, γενετικός [] "origin, source, birth") is the study of the evolutionary history and relationships among or within groups o ...

studies suggest ''Halesia'' is not

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 ...

and one species has now been transferred to the new genus ''Perkinsiodendron''.

Gallery

Pterostyrax hispida2.jpg, ''Pterostyrax hispida'' Rehderodendron macrocarpum form.jpg, ''Rehderodendron macrocarpum'' Sinojackia rehderiana fruit.jpg, ''Sinojackia rehderiana'' Styraxofficinalis.jpg, ''Styrax officinalis''

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q877464 Ericales families