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FOC | Family List | FOC Vol. 12 | Tiliaceae

1. Tilia Linnaeus, Sp. Pl. 1: 514. 1753.

椴树属 duan shu shu

Trees deciduous. Leaves alternate; stipule caducous; leaf blade base usually slightly oblique, cordate, truncate, or rounded, margin usually serrate or sometimes entire, often with hairy domatia in axils of veins. Inflorescences axillary, cymose, 3- to many-flowered. Bracts adnate to inflorescence peduncle, band-shaped, large, persistent. Flowers bisexual. Sepals 5, with adaxial nectary at base. Petals 5, white or yellow, imbricate. Stamens many, free or connate into 5 fascicles; anthers 2-locular, dorsifixed; staminodes when present petaloid, tightly enclosing style and stigma, alternating with petals. Ovary 5-loculed, ovoid, usually hairy after anthesis; ovules 2 per locule; style glabrous; stigma apparent, 5-lobed. Fruit a nut or capsule, globose, obovoid, ellipsoid, or ovoid, pericarp usually hairy, mostly woody or fragile and indehiscent, rarely leathery and dehiscent when dry. Seeds 1 or 2.

Between 23 and 40 species: primarily in temperate and subtropical regions; 19 species (15 endemic) in China.

Tilia is very distinct by its unique bracts adnate to the peduncle of the inflorescence. It is in the process of being monographed by C. D. Pigot, who has studied many populations in China, but this work is not yet available. An initial publication (Pigott, Edinburgh J. Bot. 59: 239-246. 2002) indicated that he intends to accept only 23 species in total, 13 of these occurring in China, and he intends to include many of the more recently described Chinese species within the very variable Tilia tuan. Chromosome numbers were given for all those taxa that he accepts. Tang and Zhuge (Acta Phytotax. Sin. 34: 254-264. 1996) recognized 14 "good" species in China, 17 in E Asia, and 25 in total, but Tang noted that more study for a taxonomic revision is needed.

Modern molecular analyses indicate that Tilia and Craigia form a very distinct lineage that could be treated as a distinct family or subfamily restricted to just these two genera plus the poorly known Central American genus Mortoniodendron Standley & Steyermark.


1 Fruit exocarp leathery, dehiscent when dry.   1 T. endochrysea
+ Fruit exocarp woody or thickly leathery, indehiscent   (2)
       
2 (1) Exocarp thickly leathery, fragile; bract with stalk   (3)
+ Exocarp woody, hard; bract sessile or with short stalk, basal 1/3-1/2 adnate to peduncle   (7)
       
3 (2) Leaf blade 4-6 cm; fruit 5-angled   (4)
+ Leaf blade 5-10 cm; fruit not angled or only weakly so   (5)
       
4 (3) Cymes 5-8 cm; leaf blade apex usually 3-lobed; petaloid staminodes present; fruit obovoid.   15 T. mongolica
+ Cymes 3-5 cm; leaf blade apex usually not lobed; staminodes absent; fruit ovoid.   16 T. amurensis
       
5 (3) Ovary glabrous; cymes (20-)40-100-flowered, with bracteoles.   19 T. jiaodongensis
+ Ovary hairy; cymes 3-16-flowered, without bracteoles   (6)
       
6 (5) Leaf blade orbicular, brown when dry; fruit ovoid; sepals abaxially sparsely stellate hairy; pedicel 5-8 mm; bracts 3.5-6 cm.   17 T. japonica
+ Leaf blade ovate or ovate-triangular, greenish when dry; fruit obovoid; sepals abaxially glabrous; pedicel 10-15 mm; bracts 5-8.5 cm.   18 T. paucicostata
       
7 (2) Fruit not angled, apex rounded   (8)
+ Fruit prominently or weakly 5-angled, apex acute or obtuse   (15)
       
8 (7) Leaf blade margin entire or with a few teeth near apex.   10 T. tuan
+ Leaf blade prominently serrate   (9)
       
9 (8) Bracts with stalk 5-8 cm   (10)
+ Bracts usually sessile   (12)
       
10 (9) Leaf blade broadly ovate, abaxially hairy in vein axils only.   13 T. chingiana
+ Leaf blade ovate, suborbicular, or ovate-oblong, abaxially uniformly tomentose or puberulent   (11)
       
11 (10) Branchlets hairy; bracts 12-16 cm.   10 T. tuan
+ Branchlets glabrous; bracts 6-9 cm.   7 T. likiangensis
       
12 (9) Leaf blade submembranous, abaxially glabrous or hairy in axils of veins only.   11 T. membranacea
+ Leaf blade thicker, not membranous, abaxially uniformly hairy   (13)
       
13 (12) Leaf blade marginal teeth awnlike, 1.5-5 mm; bracts 3.5-9 cm.   2 T. mandshurica
+ Leaf blade marginal teeth smaller, not awnlike; bracts 8-12 cm   (14)
       
14 (13) Cymes 3-22-flowered; leaf blade base usually oblique.   10 T. tuan
+ Cymes 3-12-flowered; leaf blade base symmetrically cordate.   12 T. miqueliana
       
15 (7) Old leaves abaxially glabrous or hairy in axils of veins only; branchlets glabrous or rarely hairy when very young   (16)
+ Old leaves abaxially uniformly densely hairy; branchlets hairy or not   (20)
       
16 (15) Cymes 50-200-flowered.   14 T. taishanensis
+ Cymes 1-15-flowered   (17)
       
17 (16) Bract with stalk 0.4-2 cm   (18)
+ Bract sessile   (19)
       
18 (17) Leaf blade suborbicular, marginal teeth 3-5 mm; bracts 7-10 × 1-1.3 cm.   3 T. henryana
+ Leaf blade broadly ovate, marginal teeth small and dense; bracts 6-6.5 × 1.5-1.8 cm.   8 T. callidonta
       
19 (17) Leaf blade (5.5-)10-14(-17) cm; fruit weakly 5-angled.   9 T. nobilis
+ Leaf blade 5-10 cm; fruit prominently 5-angled.   4 T. chinensis
       
20 (15) Branchlets hairy   (21)
+ Branchlets glabrous   (23)
       
21 (20) Leaf blade marginal teeth less than 1.5 mm, lateral veins 7-9 pairs; fruit ovoid-globose.   4 T. chinensis
+ Leaf blade marginal teeth 1.5-5 mm, lateral veins 5-7 pairs; fruit globose or obovoid   (22)
       
22 (21) Branchlets and leaves yellow stellate tomentose; leaf blade orbicular, marginal teeth with long mucros 3-5 mm.   3 T. henryana
+ Branchlets and leaves gray stellate tomentose; leaf blade ovate-orbicular, marginal teeth triangular.   2 T. mandshurica
       
23 (20) Leaf blade marginal teeth 3-5 mm; bract stalk 0.7-2 cm.   3 T. henryana
+ Leaf blade marginal teeth less than 2 mm; bract stalk usually less than 5 mm   (24)
       
24 (23) Leaf blade broadly elliptic, abaxially tomentose; bracts sessile or subsessile   (25)
+ Leaf blade ovate-oblong or obliquely ovate, abaxially puberulent or puberulent; bracts stalked   (26)
       
25 (24) Cymes 1-3-flowered; petals 8-9 mm.   4 T. chinensis
+ Cymes 7-20-flowered; petals 6-7 mm.   5 T. oliveri
       
26 (24) Petiole glabrous, leaf margin deeply serrate, teeth extending into awns.   6 T. kueichouensis
+ Petiole stellate pubescent, leaf margin serrulate.   7 T. likiangensis

  • List of lower taxa


     

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