Trees and Shrubs Online logo

Thomsonaria Rushforth

TSO logo

Sponsor this page

For information about how you could sponsor this page, see How You Can Help

Credits

New article for Trees and Shrubs Online.

Recommended citation
'Thomsonaria' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/thomsonaria/). Accessed 2024-04-30.

Family

  • Rosaceae

Glossary

References

There are no active references in this article.

Credits

New article for Trees and Shrubs Online.

Recommended citation
'Thomsonaria' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/thomsonaria/). Accessed 2024-04-30.

Thomsonaria

Foliage on Thomsonaria subulata KR 2966A, an introduction from Lao Cai, Vietnam, taken from a plant in a private collection in Devon, UK (19 September 2023). Image © Jan De Langhe - Arboretum Wespelaar.

Editorial Note

We have published this stub genus article as part of a wider reorganisation of Sorbus sensu lato articles. This work will enable a new revision of Sorbus sensu stricto to commence in 2023 and bring the nomenclature of this complex group of plants up to date in line with modern treatments.

TC, August 2023.

A genus of 26 species distributed in warm- to cold-temperate zones from the main Himalayan chain eastward across south east Asia to Indonesia. Differentiated from related genera by the combination of: leaves glabrous or with an initial, dense covering of floccose hairs, undersides ± glabrous when leaves fully mature (cf. persistently tomentose in Griffitharia), venation camptodromus, rarely craspedodromus; flowers with (15–)20 stamens; fruit 0.7–1.2 cm, calyx deciduous leaving a large circular scar often with a conical centre, green to brown at maturity, sparsely to densely lenticellate, flesh somewhat grainy, carpels 2–4 each with 2 superposed ovules; seeds rounded to ovoid. (Rushforth 2018).

Thomsonaria

Thomsonaria caloneura is arguably at its most attractive in early spring, when its young, heavily textured, copper-coloured leaves render it a very striking tree. Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, 28th February 2022. Image Tom Christian.

Thomsonaria

Thomsonaria epidendron can look spectacular as it breaks bud, as seen here at Exbury, UK, April 2016. Image John Anderson.

Thomsonaria

Thomsonaria meliosmifolia SICH 308 (Yorkshire Arboretum, UK, April 2023). Image John Grimshaw.

Thomsonaria

Thomsonaria decaisneana GUIZ 92, from 1900 m on Fan Jin Shan, Guizhou (Yorkshire Arboretum, UK, September 2023). Image John Grimshaw.

Contact the editors at