Ling Lai-Kuan
1966, 11 (3): 263–342
The genus Eurya was established by Thunberg in 1783 on a Japanese species E.
japonica. Several decades later, many authors had made more or less intensive study on
this genus. But in the earlier period, the different autherities had no clear conception of
the genus. Thus Szyszylowicz (1893), Engler (1897) and Melchior (1925) entertained
a much broader conception of this genus, including Freziera and Cleyera, both of which
are now considered as distinct genera. A. Gray (1855), Vesque (1895), Urban (1896),
and Kobuski (1935-37), however, concentrated their study only on the now accepted
genus Eurya. Recently, a more detailed study of Chinese Eurya was made by Chang
Hung-da (Acta Phytotax. Sin. 3 (1954) 1-59). But all of these authors did not subdivide this genus into more than subgenera except Vesque, who used the number of
stamens and the septation of the anther cells to further subdivide this genus into 4 sections.
In the present treatment, we base on the following characteristics to make subdivisions: the number of stamens, the septation of the anther cells, the hairness of the ovary,
the length of the style, the shape and texture of the sepals, and the shape and hairness
of the young branchlets. We assume that the morphology of the flowers has the following
evolutionary tendencies: stamens from large (28) to small (5) numbers; anther cells from
septate to nonseptate; ovary from being hairy to glabrous, styles from 5-4 free to 3 and
more or less connate, from 2-6 mm to 0.5-1 mm long, and ovules from many (60)
to few (2-4) in each cell.
The genus Eurya has now about 140 species, being divided into 2 subgenera: Subg.
Ternstroemiopsis Urban, with 2 species endemic in Sandwich Islands and Subg. Eurya with
138 species, in Asiatic tropic and subtropic regions and southwestern Pacific Islands.
According to the characteristics mentioned above, we divide the second subgenus into 2
sections and 8 series, as follows:
(I) Sect. Meristotheca Vesque (II) Sect. Eurya
Ser. Ciliatae Hu et L. K. Ling Ser. Longistylae Hu et L. K. Ling
Ser. Trichocarpae Hu et L. K. Ling Ser. Rigidisepalae Hu et L. K. Ling
Ser. Tetragonocladae Hu et L. K. Ling Ser. Nitidae Hu et L. K. Ling
Ser. Muricatae Hu et L. K. Ling Ser. Brevistylae Hu et L. K. Ling
In China, the subgenus Eurya distributes east from Taiwan, west to the western part
of Szechuan and Yunnan, and south from Hainan, north to the southern slope of Tsin-ling
Range. The region north from southern part of Nan-ling Range, southwest to southeast
Yunnan, south to northern part of the Peoples Republic of Vietnam, seems to be the centre
of both maximum variety and frequency of this subgenus, for the number of species and
the representatives of more primitive taxa in this region are much richer than in any
other regions of the world. From this centre going northeast to Japan and Korea, west
to eastern part of India, south to Java and Sumatra, north to the southern slope of Tsinling Range, the number of species and types gradually decreases, and especially the primitive series and species rapidly disappear. In addition, many species are also found in the
Island of Irian, which we incline to consider as another young centre of development for
this subgenus. Furthermore, according to the distribution of quite a large number of the
species in China, we can recognize several boundary lines which are in agreement with the
limits of the floristic and geobotanic provinces of China.
In this article we have enumerated 80 species, and 11 varieties of the genus Eurya
of China, among which are published for the first time 11 new species and 1 new variety,
one species, E. persicaefolia Gagnepain, is first recorded from China, a number of specific
names have been restored and a number reduced to synonyms. They are as follows:
Restored species:
Eurya acuminatissima Merrill & Chun
E. patentipila Chun
E. henryi Hemsley
Reduced to synonyms:
Eurya parastrigillosa Hsu ( E. patentipila Chun)
E. changii Hsu (E. fangii var. megaphylla Hsu)
E. chienii Hsu (E. persicaefolia Gagnepain)
E. hwangshanensis Hsu (E. saxicola Chang)
E. fangii Rehd. var. glaberrima Hsu (E. cavinervis Vesque)
E. pseudopolyneura Chang (E. impressinervis Kobuski)
E. longistyla Chang (E. stenophylla Merrill)
E. huiana Kobuski f. glaberrima Chang (E. muricata Dunn)
New combination:
Eurya muricata Dunn var. huiana (Kob.) Hu et L. K. Ling E. aurea (Levl.) Hu et L. K. Ling