Rhododendron sect. Vireya

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Rhododendron sect. Vireya
Rhododendron javanicum
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Ericales
Family: Ericaceae
Genus: Rhododendron
Subgenus: Rhododendron subg. Rhododendron
Section: Rhododendron sect. Vireya
(Blume) H.F.Copel.
Type species
Rhododendron javanicum
(Blume) Benn.
Subsections

See text

Synonyms

Schistanthe

Schltr.

Vireya rhododendron

Rhododendron section Vireya (vireyas) is a tropical group of

southeastern Asia and range from Thailand to Australia.[3]

Description

Rhododendron 'Kamrau Bay', a hybrid whose background includes R. zoelleri and R. laetum[4]

Vireya are morphologically diverse, and characterised by

seeds with tailed appendages, the presence of leaf idioblasts and capsule valves which twist upon opening.[5]

The formal description (Craven 2008) is: Scales sessile or sometimes stalked, lobed to deeply incised or sometimes entire; corolla campanulate, trumpet-like, salver-shaped, tubular or funnel-shaped; stamens (5–)10(–16), exserted to included, staminal filaments glabrous or hairy from the base; capsule valves twisting after dehiscence; seeds with a distinct tail at each end.

Taxonomy

Vireya is the largest of the three sections constituting

Malesian
tropical rhododendrons. (Fayaz). Goetsch (2011) gives the number of species as 320, and the total taxa including subspecies, forms and varieties as 380.

Subdivision

The section has traditionally been considered to consist of seven

clades based on geographical distribution:[5]

In Argent's (2006) treatment of Vireya as a subgenus, he included seven sections, with Euvireya consisting of five subsections,

clades. Thus Craven et al. proposed there be only two subsections of Vireya, corresponding to the core species, Euvireya and the much smaller Malayovireya , while the other two groups formed out of Pseudovireya be raised to section rank, keeping the original name Pseudovireya for the mainland species, and using Argent's name, Discovireya for the Malesian species.[1]
For a comparison of the Sleumer, Argent and Craven schemata, see Craven (2008), Table 1.

Thus the new subsection structure is:

Characteristics:(Craven 2008)

  • Euvireya – Scales sessile or stalked, scattered or dense, not of two obviously different size classes, lobed to deeply incised (or sometimes entire) and the centre not dark-coloured.
  • Malayovireya – Scales sessile, dense, of two obviously different size classes, lobed and the centre dark-coloured.

As of December 2023, World Flora Online treated the group as R. subg.Vireya, divided into seven sections:[2]

Distribution

Vireya are found throughout the

Malesian Archipelago – Peninsular Malaysia, Sumatra, Borneo, Java, the Philippines, Sulawesi, the Lesser Sunda Islands, and Maluku – and in Papuasia, which includes New Guinea, the Bismarck Archipelago, and the Solomon Islands. Some Vireya species also occur in Australia, China, India, Nepal, Taiwan, and Vietnam. Only a few non-Vireya species occur in Malesia, in the Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, and the Philippines.[5] Malesian species are found in all subsections, while species from other areas appear only in Euvvireya, Malayovireya and Pseudovireya.[1]

New Guinea has the most Vireya species of any island, with 167 species. Borneo has 46 species, the second most of any island.[10]

References

  1. ^ .
  2. ^ a b c WFO (December 2023). "Rhododendron subg. Vireya L." World Flora Online. Retrieved 2024-02-22.
  3. ISBN 1-872291-66-X. Archived from the original
    on July 14, 2014. Retrieved July 3, 2014.
  4. ^ "Vireya Hybrid Gallery: K".
  5. ^ a b c Gillian K. Brown, Lyn A. Craven, Frank Udovicic and Pauline Y. Ladiges. Phylogenetic relationships of Rhododendron section Vireya (Ericaceae) inferred from the ITS nrDNA region. Australian Systematic Botany 19, 329–342. August 2006. 10.1071/SB05019
  6. S2CID 51949019
    .
  7. ^
  8. ^ Sleumer, Hermann Otto (1966) Ericaceae 1. Rhododendron: An account of rhododendron in Malesia, in ‘Flora Malesiana’. (Ed. CGGJ van Steenis) pp. 469–656. (Wolters-Noordhoff Publishing: Groningen, The Netherlands
  9. ^ Hall, B.D., L.A. Craven & L.A. Goetsch. 2006. The taxonomy of subsection Pseudovireya – two distinctly different taxa within subsection Pseudovireya and their relation to the rooting of section Vireya within subgenus Rhododendron. Rhododendron Sp. 1: 72, 91–97
  10. ^ G. Argent (1985) Vireya Rhododendrons in Borneo. Notes from the Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh 43 53–61

Bibliography

External links