Chionanthus Linnaeus (1753: 8) .

TYPE (designated by Jarvis et al. [1993: 33]):— C. virginica Linnaeus (1753: 8) .

Mayepea Aublet (1775: 81) . TYPE:— M. guianensis Aublet (1775: 81) .

Freyeria Scopoli (1777: 208) . TYPE:—not designated.

Thouinia Thunberg ex Linnaeus (1782: 89), nom. rej. TYPE:— T. nutans Linnaeus (1782: 89) .

Ceranthus Schreber (1789: 14) . TYPE:— C. schreberi Gmelin (1791: 26) .

Linociera Swartz ex Schreber (1791: 784) . Don (1837: 52), de Candolle (1844: 296), Bentham & Hooker (1876: 678), Clarke (1882: 607), Ridley (1923: 316), Gagnepain (1932: 785, 1933: 1066), Kerr (1939: 410), Backer & Bakhuizen van den Brink (1965: 213), Pai (1986: 627), Miao (1992: 112), Ho (2003: 884), Kress et al. (2003: 319), Ly (2003: 1168), Jin et al. (2016: 159). TYPE:— L. ligustrina (Swartz 1788: 15) Swartz (1797: 50) .

Bonamica Vellozo (1825: 21) . TYPE:— B. filiformis Vellozo (1825: 21) .

Tessarandra Miers (1851: 198) . TYPE:— T. fluminensis Miers (1851: 198) .

Description

Trees or shrubs, usually evergreen (deciduous in temperate species). Leaves opposite, simple, petiolate, exstipulate; leaf blade oblanceolate, oblong-lanceolate or obovate, chartaceous or coriaceous, with entire margin, pinnately veined, often with domatia on abaxial side in axils of secondary veins and midvein. Inflorescences axillary or rarely terminal, cymose, paniculate or rarely racemose-decussate. Flowers small, bisexual or unisexual, often fragrant. Calyx persistent, short, cup-shaped, with tube and 4 free lobes; lobes sometimes very short (in form of teeth). Corolla white or (greenish) yellow (rarely pink or red), with short tube and 4 free lobes; lobes sometimes almost free to base or joined in pairs at base, valvate in bud, linear or shortly oblong. Stamens 2 (rarely 4), inserted at base of corolla lobes, included in corolla; filament shorter than anther; anther elliptic; connective sometimes extended into a short appendage. Ovary superior, globose to bottle-shaped, bilocular, with 2 pendulous ovules per locule; style short, stigma entire or slightly 2-lobed. Fruit a drupe, ovoid to ellipsoid or spherical, with fleshy mesocarp and bony endocarp, usually 1-seeded; seed with or without endosperm.

Literature: — Don (1837: 50), de Candolle (1844: 295), Blume (1851: 317), Miquel (1856: 550), Bentham & Mueller (1869: 301), Bentham & Hooker (1876: 677), Kurz (1877: 158), Kiew (1979: 263, 1989: 286, 1998: 471, 2002: 131, 2015: 287), Panigrahi (1985: 53), Pai (1986: 630), Green (1988: 265, 1994: 261, 2000b: 281, 2003: 260, 2004: 303), Miao (1992: 118), Yamazaki (1993: 128), Chang et al. (1996: 293), Coode et al. (1996: 247), Yang & Lu (1998: 128), Kessler et al. (2002: 100), Kress et al. (2003: 317), Wei (2003: 419), Newman et al. (2007: 248), Wen & Fang (2011: 781), Xu & Xia (2011: 130), Cho et al. (2016: 141), Jin et al. (2016: 159).

Etymology: —The name of the genus means “snowy flower”, apparently referring to the white colour of the flowers (Kiew 2002).

Notes: —The genus is represented in Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam by 13 species, four of which are endemic to the region. In Vietnam, twelve species are known, including two national endemics. Laos has nine species, and Cambodia has five species.