font settings and languages

Font Size: Large | Normal | Small
Font Face: Verdana | Geneva | Georgia
Languages:

ZipcodeZoo.com needs to raise another $12,000 in donations by January 1 to continue operation in 2009.
If we cannot meet this goal, this site will go offline January 1. Please click here to donate

Kadsura chinensis

Description

[ Back to top ]

Family Schisandraceae

Shrubs , evergreen or deciduous, scandent or twining , glabrous . Leaves alternate, simple , without stipules, petiolate . Leaf blade often fragrant (especially when bruised or crushed), translucent-dotted, ovate to lanceolate, pinnately veined, thin to leathery, margins entire to remotely dentate . Flowers unisexual , staminate and pistillate on same [different] plants , axillary , solitary, pedunculate ; peduncle bracteolate ; perianth hypogynous; tepals 5-20, imbricate, distinct , in 2[-3] series, all similar but innermost more petaloid . Staminate flowers : stamens 4-80, hypogynous, distinct or connate partially or completely into fleshy , globose or discoid mass, in 1-several series; anthers basifixed , 4-locular, longitudinally dehiscent ; pollen 3- or 6-aperturate; pistil absent. Pistillate flowers: pistils simple, 6-300, distinct, closely set in few to many series on globose to elongate axis, attached obliquely; placentation marginal to pendulous; ovules [1-]2-3[-10] per locule; stigmatic surface adaxial ; stamens absent. Fruits aggregates of berries , produced on elongate axis. Seeds [1-]2-3[-10] per berry, flattened; endosperm copious , oily; embryo small.

Genera 2, species 47: North America, chiefly e Asia.

The Chinese drug wu-wei-zi and its substitutes are obtained from species of Schisandra . The drug is considered a potential source of expectorants , immune response boosters, and anti-ulcer compounds . Several lignan compounds from species of the genus are used as a treatment for hepatitis and as central nervous-system depressants (S. Foster 1989) .

Schisandraceae were considered closely allied to Illiciaceae by A. C. Smith (1947) . Embryologic studies (R. N. Kapil and S. Jalan 1964) were interpreted as showing that the former are considerably removed from the latter. In his monograph , A. C. Smith also postulated a close relationship between Schisandraceae and Magnoliaceae. J. Hutchinson (1973) stated that Schisandraceae were probably derived from Magnoliaceae. Studies of fossil pollen led J. W. Walker and A. G. Walker (1984) to conclude that Schisandraceae and Illiceaceae are closely allied with Winteraceae. Based on analysis of nucleotide sequences from the plastid gene rbc L, however, M. W. Chase et al. (1993) and Qiu Y. L. et al. (1993) concluded that Schisandraceae and Illiciaceae are closely allied and closely related to Austrobaileyaceae but distant from Winteraceae.Michael A. Vincent "Schisandraceae". in Flora of North America Vol. 3. Oxford University Press. Online at EFloras.org.

Biology

[ Back to top ]

Taxonomy

[ Back to top ]

Notes

Publishing author : C.B.Clarke Publication : Journ. Linn. Soc. xxv. (1889) 4.

Similar Species

[ Back to top ]

Members of the genus Kadsura

There are approximately 58 species in this genus:

K. acsmithii · K. acuminata · K. ananosma · K. angustifolia · K. apoensis · K. billitonensis · K. blancoi · K. borneensis · K. calophylla · K. cauliflora · K. cavaleriei · K. celebica · K. championii · K. chinensis · K. chinensis var. annamensis · K. clemensiae · K. coccinea · K. coccinea var. annamensis · K. coccinea var. sichuanensis · K. discigera · K. grandiflora · K. guangxiensis · K. hainanensis · K. heteroclita · K. induta · K. interior · K. japonica (Evergreen Magolia Vine) · K. japonica 'Chirifu' (Evergreen Magolia Vine) · K. japonica 'Chirimen' · K. japonica 'Fukurin' (Evergreen Magnolia Vine) · K. japonica 'Shiromi' · K. japonica 'Variegata' · K. japonica white fruit · K. lanceolata · K. longepedunculata · K. longipedunculata · K. macgregorii · K. marmorata · K. matsudai · K. oblongifolia · K. omeiensis · K. parvifolia · K. paucidenticulata · K. peltigera · K. philippinensis · K. polysperma · K. propinqua · K. pubescens · K. renchangiana · K. roxburghiana · K. sancens · K. scandens · K. sorsogonensis · K. sulphurea · K. ultima · K. verrucosa · K. wattii · K. wightiana

Bibliography

[ Back to top ]

More Info

[ Back to top ]

Notes

[ Back to top ]

Identifiers

Footnotes

Last Revised: June 18, 2008