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Forsythia Vahl

Protologue: Enum. Pl. 1: 39 (1804)

Type species: Forsythia suspensa (Thunb.) Vahl (basionym: Ligustrum suspensum Thunb.)

Synonyms: Rangium

Distribution: Mainly in eastern Asia (China), one species in SE Europe

Number of species: about 11

Description (from Flora of China): Shrubs deciduous. Branches hollow or with lamellate pith; branchlets ± 4-angled. Leaves opposite, simple, rarely 3-parted to 3-foliolate, petiolate; leaf blade serrate or entire. Flowers appearing before leaves, bisexual, heterostylous, 1 to several fascicled in leaf axils, pedicellate. Calyx deeply 4-lobed, persistent. Corolla yellow, 4-parted; tube campanulate; lobes longer than tube, imbricate in bud. Stamens 2, inserted at base of corolla tube, scarcely exserted. Ovules many in each locule, pendulous. Style slender; stigma 2-cleft. Fruit a loculicidal capsule. Seeds numerous in each locule, slightly winged; endosperm absent; radicle erect.

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Maintained by Eva Wallander | Last updated: 2006-12-25