Symplocos

Symplocos is a genus of flowering plants in the order Ericales. It contains about 300 species distributed in Asia and the Americas. Many species grow in humid tropical regions. This is sometimes considered to be the only genus in family Symplocaceae. Plants in this family are shrubs and trees with white or yellow flowers. The oldest fossils of the genus date to the lower Eocene of Europe and North America, with the genus being present in Europe as late as the Pliocene. Fossil seeds of †Symplocos granulosa are frequent in sediment rock layers of the Late Oligocene to the Late Miocene of Denmark, Germany, Austria and Poland. The fossil seeds are very similar to the seeds of the extan southern Chinese species Symplocos glandulifera and Symplocos sulcata. Fossil seeds of †Symplocos paucicostata are known from the Middle Pliocene sediment rock layers in Reuver, the Netherlands and from the Late Pliocene sediment rock layers in northern Italy. The fossil seeds are very similar to the seeds of the extant East Asian species Symplocos paniculata. thumb|right|Fossil †Symplocos kowalewskii flower in amber

==Selected species== Symplocos adenophylla Symplocos ampulliformis — Northeast Queensland, Australia Symplocos anamallayana Symplocos anomala Symplocos austromexicana — deciduous shrub up to 2m; narrow endemic, Oaxaca, Mexico Symplocos badia Symplocos baehnii Symplocos barberi Symplocos bauerlenii — shrub or small tree up to 7m; eastern Australia Symplocos blancae Symplocos bractealis Symplocos breedlovei Symplocos calycodactylos Symplocos candelabrum — tree up to 13m; Lord Howe Island Symplocos canescens Symplocos carmencitae Symplocos chloroleuca Symplocos clethrifolia Symplocos citrea Symplocos coccinea Symplocos cochinchinensis var. cochinchinensis var. gittonsii — Northeast Queensland, Australia var. glaberrima — Northeast Queensland, Australia var. pilosiuscula — Northeast Queensland, Australia Symplocos cordifolia — Sri Lanka Symplocos coreana — Korean sweetleaf, deciduous shrub up to 5m; Japan, Korea Symplocos coronata — Sri Lanka Symplocos costaricana – Central America Symplocos costata Symplocos crassiramifera — Northeast Queensland, Australia Symplocos cuneata — Sri Lanka Symplocos cyanocarpa — Northeast Queensland, Australia Symplocos ecuadorica – Ecuador Symplocos foliosa - Endemic to the Western Ghats of India Symplocos fuscata Symplocos glauca — evergreen tree up to 15m; Japan, Taiwan, China, Indochina Symplocos graniticola — Northeast Queensland, Australia Symplocos hayesii — Northeast Queensland, Australia Symplocos henschelii Symplocos hispidula Symplocos hylandii — Northeast Queensland, Australia Symplocos junghuhnii †Symplocos kowalewskii Baltic amber, Eocene Symplocos lancifolia — evergreen tree up to 5m; Japan Symplocos longipes Symplocos lucida — China, Japan, Taiwan, South Asia, Malesia Symplocos lugubris Symplocos mezii Symplocos myrtacea — evergreen tree up to 10m; Japan Symplocos nairii Symplocos nicolsonii — India Symplocos nivea Symplocos octopetala Symplocos oligandra Symplocos paniculata — (sapphireberry) — deciduous shrub up to 8m; Japan, South Korea; popular as an ornamental plant Symplocos paucistaminea — Northeast Queensland, Australia Symplocos pendula Symplocos peruviana Symplocos pluribracteata Symplocos prunifolia — evergreen tree]up to 10m; Japan, Korea Symplocos pulchra — Sri Lanka Symplocos pyriflora Symplocos racemosa — China, South Asia Symplocos rimbachii Symplocos shilanensis Symplocos sousae Symplocos stawellii — shrub or small tree up to 30m; eastern Australia var. montana — Northeast Queensland, Australia var. stawellii — Australia Symplocos subandina Symplocos subintegra Chatterjee Symplocos tacanensis Symplocos tanakae — evergreen tree; Japan Symplocos theophrastaefolia — evergreen tree up to 15m; Japan, Taiwan, China Symplocos thwaitesii — shrub or small tree up to 17m; eastern Australia Symplocos tinctoria — (sweetleaf, horse-sugar, yellowwood) — deciduous or evergreen shrub or tree up to 6m; United States Symplocos trichoclada Symplocos truncata Symplocos tubulifera Symplocos verrucisurcula Symplocos versicolor