| Stachyurus | |
|---|---|
| | |
| Stachyurus praecox flowers. | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Clade: | Rosids |
| Order: | Crossosomatales |
| Family: | Stachyuraceae J.Agardh |
| Genus: | Stachyurus Siebold & Zucc. |
| Species | |
See text | |
Stachyurus is the only genus in the flowering plant family Stachyuraceae, [1] native to the Himalayas and eastern Asia. They are deciduous shrubs or small trees with pendent racemes of 4-petalled flowers which appear on the bare branches before the leaves. [2] The plants have leaves with serrate margins.
Pendunculagin, casuarictin, strictinin, casuarinin and casuariin are ellagitannins found in species in this genus. [3]
Stachyurus praecox and the slightly later-flowering S. chinensis, from Japan and China, respectively, are both cultivated as ornamental plants elsewhere as they flower early in temperate climates.