Helwingia

Life-forms

Classification System: APG IV

Superregnum: Eukaryota
Regnum: Plantae
Cladus: Angiosperms
Cladus: Eudicots
Cladus: Core eudicots
Cladus: Asterids
Cladus: Campanulids
Ordo: Aquifoliales

Familia: Helwingiaceae
Genus: Helwingia
Species: H. chinensis – H. himalaica – H. japonica – H. omeiensis
Name

Helwingia Willd., Sp. Pl. 4: 716 (1806) nom. cons.
Type species: Helwingia japonica (Thunb.) F.Dietr., Nachtr. Vollst. Lex. Gärtn. 3: 660 (1817). Designated as Helwingia rusciflora Willd., Sp. Pl. 4: 716 (1806), nom. superfl.

Distribution
Native distribution areas:
Helwingia

Continental: Asia-Temperate
Regional: Eastern Asia
Assam, China North-Central, China South-Central, China Southeast, East Himalaya, Japan, Korea, Myanmar, Nansei-shoto, Nepal, Taiwan, Thailand, Tibet, Vietnam

References: Brummitt, R.K. 2001. TDWG – World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions, 2nd Edition

References
Primary references

Willdenow, C.L. 1806. Species Plantarum. Editio quarta. Tomus 4. Pars 2. Pp. 634–1157. Impensis G. C. Nauk, Berolini [Berlin]. BHL Biblioteca Digital Reference page. : 4(2): 716.

Additional references

Govaerts, R.H.A. 2003. World Checklist of Selected Plant Families Database in ACCESS: 1-216203. The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. [unavailable for the public] Reference page.

Links

Govaerts, R. et al. 2021. Helwingia in World Checklist of Selected Plant Families. The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Published on the internet. Accessed: 2021 Oct 11. Reference page.
Govaerts, R. et al. 2021. Helwingia in Kew Science Plants of the World online. The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Published on the internet. Accessed: 2021 Oct 11. Reference page.
International Plant Names Index. 2021. Helwingia. Published online. Accessed: Oct 11 2021.
Tropicos.org 2021. Helwingia. Missouri Botanical Garden. Published on the internet. Accessed: 2021 Oct 11.
Hassler, M. 2021. Helwingia. World Plants: Synonymic Checklists of the Vascular Plants of the World In: Roskovh, Y., Abucay, L., Orrell, T., Nicolson, D., Bailly, N., Kirk, P., Bourgoin, T., DeWalt, R.E., Decock, W., De Wever, A., Nieukerken, E. van, Zarucchi, J. & Penev, L., eds. 2021. Species 2000 & ITIS Catalogue of Life. Published on the internet. Accessed: 2021 Oct 11. Reference page.

Vernacular names
čeština: Helvingiovité
suomi: Marjalavat
日本語: ハナイカダ科
한국어: 헬윙기아과
Tiếng Việt: Họ Thanh giáp diệp
中文: 青荚叶科

The genus Helwingia consists of shrubs or rarely small trees native to eastern Asia, the Himalayas, and northern Indochina. It is the only genus in the family Helwingiaceae.[2][3]

The plants have alternate, evergreen or deciduous leaves and small inflorescences that are epiphyllous (growing from the leaf surface). During development, the flowers appear separate from the leaves, but eventually fuse with the leaf midrib.[4] Flowers are small and yellow-green or purple, followed by red or black berries. Plants are dioecious.[5]

The APG II classification (2003) places them in the order Aquifoliales, along with the hollies and Phyllonomaceae, which also has epiphyllous flowers.[6]

The family Helwingiaceae does not exist in the Cronquist classification (1981), which places this genus in the Cornaceae (dogwood family). Helwingia has also previously been placed in the Araliaceae (ginseng family).[7]
Species[2]

Helwingia chinensis Batalin - Thailand, Myanmar, China: Gansu, Guizhou, Hubei, Hunan, Shaanxi, Sichuan, Tibet, Yunnan
Helwingia himalaica Hook.f. & Thomson ex C.B.Clarke - Thailand, Myanmar, Bhutan, Nepal, India: Assam, Sikkim, China: Tibet, Chongqing, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hubei, Hunan, Sichuan, Yunnan
Helwingia japonica (Thunb.) F.Dietr. - Japan (incl. Ryukyu Islands), Korea, Taiwan, Myanmar, Bhutan, Vietnam, India: Assam, Sikkim, China: Anhui, Fujian, Gansu, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Shaanxi, Shandong, Shanxi, Sichuan, Yunnan, Zhejiang
Helwingia omeiensis (W.P.Fang) H.Hara & S.Kuros. - China: Gansu, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hubei, Hunan, Shaanxi, Sichuan, Yunnan

References

Angiosperm Phylogeny Group (2009). "An update of the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group classification for the orders and families of flowering plants: APG III". Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society. 161 (2): 105–121. doi:10.1111/j.1095-8339.2009.00996.x.
Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families
Flora of China Vol. 14 Page 227 青荚叶属 qing jia ye shu Helwingia Willdenow, Sp. Pl. 4: 634, 716. 1806, nom. cons., not Helvingia Adanson (1763).
Dickinson, Timothy A.; Sattler, Rolf (1975). "Development of the Epiphyllous Inflorescence of Helwingia japonica (Helwingiaceae)". American Journal of Botany. 62 (9): 962–973. doi:10.2307/2441641. ISSN 0002-9122. JSTOR 2441641.
Sun, Cheng; Yu, Guoliang; Bao, Manzhu; Zheng, Bo; Ning, Guogui (2014). "Biological pattern and transcriptomic exploration and phylogenetic analysis in the odd floral architecture tree: Helwingia willd". BMC Research Notes. 7: 402. doi:10.1186/1756-0500-7-402. PMC 4083144. PMID 24969969.
Dickinson, T. A.; Sattler, R. (1974). "Development of the epiphyllous inflorescence of Phyllonoma integerrima (Turcz.) Loes.: implications for comparative morphology*". Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society. 69 (1): 1–13. doi:10.1111/j.1095-8339.1974.tb01609.x. ISSN 1095-8339.
Hara, Hiroshi; Kurosawa, Sachiko (1975). Ohashi, H. (ed.). "A Revision of the Genus Helwingia". Flora of the Eastern Himalayas. 3: 393–413.