Distylium (winter-hazel) is a genus of 16 species of evergreen shrubs and trees in the witch hazel family, Hamamelidaceae, native to eastern and southeastern Asia.
Taxonomy
Fossil record Researchers have recognized Distylium fossil pollen among the middle Miocene Sarmatian palynoflora from the Lavanttal Basin of Austria. The sediment containing the fossil pollen had accumulated in a lowland wetland environment with various vegetation units of mixed evergreen/deciduous broadleaved/conifer forests surrounding the wetland basin. Key relatives of the fossil taxa found with Distylium are presently confined to humid warm temperate environments, suggesting a subtropical climate during the middle Miocene in Austria.Combined LM and SEM study of the middle Miocene (Sarmatian) palynoflora from the Lavanttal Basin, Austria: part III. Magnoliophyta 1 – Magnoliales to Fabales, Friðgeir Grímsson, Barbara Meller, Johannes M. Bouchal & Reinhard Zetter, Grana 2015, Vol 54, No. 2,85-128. Distylium macrofossils of the Lower and Middle Miocene, are known from the lignite mines of the Kaltennortheim Formation in the Rhön Mountains, central Germany, where it is associated with typical elements of the Mastixioid floras that attest to an optimal warm humid phase of the Miocene.The floral change in the tertiary of the Rhön mountains (Germany) by Dieter Hans Mai - Acta Paleobotanica 47(1): 135-143, 2007.
Species 16 species are accepted. Distylium annamicum – eastern Thailand and southern Vietnam Distylium buxifolium - China Distylium chinense - China Distylium chungii - China Distylium cuspidatum - China Distylium dunnianum - China Distylium elaeagnoides - China Distylium gracile - China Distylium indicum – Meghalaya to Indochina Distylium lepidotum – Ogasawara Islands Distylium macrophyllum - China Distylium myricoides - China Distylium pingpienense - China Distylium racemosum - tree up to 20m; China, Korea, Japan (Ryukyu Islands)(known as Isunoki(イスノキ)/Nara(柞), Taiwan Distylium stellare – Peninsular Malaysia, Sumatra, Java, and Lesser Sunda Islands Distylium tsiangii - China
References
Flora of China: Distylium
External links