Forsythia Vahl

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.

Links to species lists

• Forsythia extracted from the Flora Europaea database
• Forsythia extracted from the GRIN database
• Forsythia in Flora of China

Images

• My photo of a flowering Forsythia sp
• Forsythia images from Vascular Plant Image Library
• Forsythia sp. (flower close-up) from Gerald D. Carr at University of Hawaii at Manoa

References

• Green, P. S. 1973. Forsythia `Karl Sax'. Bot. Mag. 179: t. ns652.
• Hara, H. 1973. A new species of Forsythia from Is. Shôdoshima. J. Jap. Bot. 48: 256.
• Hebb, R. S. 1971. The story of Forsythia. Arnoldia 31(2): 41-63.
• Kim, K.-J. 1999. Molecular phylogeny of Forsythia (Oleaceae) based on chloroplast DNA variation. Plant Systematics and Evolution 218(1-2): 113-123.
• McClain, W. & Ebinger, J. 1995. Naturalized Forsythia suspensa (Thunb.) Vahl (Oleaceae) in Illinois. Trans. Ill. State Acad. Sci. 88(3-4): 119-121.
• O'Mara, J. 1930. Chromosome number in the genus Forsythia. J. Arnold Arbor. 11: 14-15.
• Rohwer, J. G. 1992. Zur kenntnis der Früchte von Forsythia. Bot. Jahrb. Syst. 114: 133-140.

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