Rhodoleia Explained

Rhodoleia is a genus of plants in the family Hamamelidaceae. Together with its sister genus Exbucklandia, Rhodoleia forms the sister clade to the other 25 genera of Hamamelidaceae.^[1] Flowers of Rhodoleia are bird-pollinated. Nectar-foraging birds including Japanese white-eyes (Zosterops japonicus, Zosteropidae) and fork-tailed sunbirds (Aethopyga christinae, Nectariniidae), avidly visit the flowers, which they also pollinate in the process.^[2]

Species include:

• Rhodoleia championii
• Rhodoleia henryi
• Rhodoleia macrocarpa
• Rhodoleia stenopetala

External links

• Flora of China

Notes and References

1. Li, J.-H., A. L. Bogle, and A. S. Klein. 1999. Phylogenetic relationships of the Hamamelidaceae inferred from sequences of internal transcribed spaces (ITS) of nuclear ribosome DNA. Am. J. Bot. 86: 1027–1037.
2. Gu, L., Z. Luo, D. Zhang, and S. S. Renner. 2010. Passerine pollination of Rhodoleia championii (Hamamelidaceae) in subtropical China. Biotropica 42(3): 336–341.