? Clethra
Clethra arborea flowers
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae Division: Magnoliophyta Class: Magnoliopsida Order: Ericales Family: Clethraceae Genus: Clethra L.
Species
Between 30-70; see text.

Clethra is a genus of between 30-70 species of flowering shrubs or small trees. It is one of two genera in the family Clethraceae (the other being Purdiaea). The species may be evergreen or deciduous, and all bear flowers in clusters or inflorescences. Image File history File links Clethra_arborea1. ... Scientific classification or biological classification is how biologists group and categorize extinct and living species of organisms. ... Divisions Green algae land plants (embryophytes) non-vascular embryophytes Hepatophyta - liverworts Anthocerophyta - hornworts Bryophyta - mosses vascular plants (tracheophytes) seedless vascular plants Lycopodiophyta - clubmosses Equisetophyta - horsetails Pteridophyta - true ferns Psilotophyta - whisk ferns Ophioglossophyta - adderstongue ferns seed plants (spermatophytes) †Pteridospermatophyta - seed ferns Pinophyta - conifers Cycadophyta - cycads Ginkgophyta - ginkgo Gnetophyta - gnetae Magnoliophyta - flowering... Classes Magnoliopsida- Dicots Liliopsida- Monocots The flowering plants (also called angiosperms) are a major group of land plants. ... Orders see text Dicotyledons or dicots are flowering plants whose seed contains two embryonic leaves or cotyledons. ... Families See text The Ericales are a large and diverse order of dicotyledons. ... Genera Clethra Purdiaea Clethraceae is a small family of flowering plants in the order Ericales, native to warm temperate to tropical regions of Asia and the Americas, with one species also on Madeira. ... Carolus Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus, also known after his ennoblement as (help· info), and in English usually under the Latinized name Carolus Linnaeus (May 23, 1707 – January 10, 1778), the name with which his publications were signed, was a Swedish botanist and physician who laid the foundations for the modern scheme... In biology, a genus (plural genera) is a taxonomic grouping. ... A broom shrub in flower A shrub or bush is a horticultural rather than strictly botanical category of woody plant, distinguished from a tree by its multiple stems and lower height, usually less than 6 m tall. ... The coniferous Coast Redwood, the tallest tree species on earth. ... Genera Clethra Purdiaea Clethraceae is a small family of flowering plants in the order Ericales, native to warm temperate to tropical regions of Asia and the Americas, with one species also on Madeira. ... Species See text Purdiaea is a genus of 11-19 species of flowering plants in the family Clethraceae. ... A Silver Fir shoot showing three successive years of retained leaves In botany, an evergreen plant is a plant which retains its leaves year-round, with each leaf persisting for more than 12 months. ... Deciduous means temporary or tending to fall off (deriving from the Latin word decidere, to fall off). ...

They are distributed from temperate to tropical climates in eastern and southeastern Asia, Malesia, Central America, northern South America, the southeastern United States, and one species (C. arborea) on the island of Madeira. In geography, temperate latitudes of the globe lie between the tropics and the polar circles. ... The tropics are the geographic region of the Earth centered on the equator and limited in latitude by the two tropics: the Tropic of Cancer in the north and the Tropic of Capricorn in the southern hemisphere. ... Asia is the largest and most populous region or continent depending on the definition. ... Malesia is a biogeographical region straddling the boundary of the Indomalaya and Australasia ecozones. ... Map of Central America Central America is the subcontinent of America between North America and South America, beginning south of the Gulf of Mexico (the exact location is defined variously) and ending at the border between Panama and Colombia. ... South America South America is a continent crossed by the equator, with most of its area in the Southern Hemisphere. ... For other uses of the word, see Madeira (disambiguation) Madeira Islands location. ...

Selected species

The number of species accepted varies between different authorities depending on taxonomic interpretation, but with a recent trend to reduce the number recognised as distinct; the recent Flora of China has cut the number accepted for China from 35 to 7 species, and the USDA only recognises two in the United States, synonymising C. tomentosa with C. alnifolia. The following is a selection: In scientific classification, synonymy is the existence of multiple systematic names to label the same organism. ...

• Clethra acuminata Michx. – Mountain Pepper Bush; southeastern United States.
• Clethra alnifolia L. – Sweet Pepper Bush; southeastern United States.
• Clethra arborea Ait. – Lily of the Valley Tree; Madeira.
• Clethra barbinervis Siebold & Zucc. – Japanese Sweet Shrub; eastern China, Korea, Japan.
• Clethra bodinieri – southern China.
• Clethra brasiliensis – northeastern South America.
• Clethra crispa – northwestern South America.
• Clethra delavayi – southern China to Bhutan and Vietnam.
• Clethra fabri – southern China, Vietnam.
• Clethra fargesii – central China.
• Clethra fimbriata – northwestern South America.
• Clethra kaipoensis – southeastern China.
• Clethra lanata – southern Mexico to Panama.
• Clethra mexicana – southern Mexico, Central America.
• Clethra obovata – northwestern South America.
• Clethra ovalifolia – northwestern South America.
• Clethra paralelinervia – northwestern South America.
• Clethra petelotii – Vietnam, Yunnan.
• Clethra revoluta – northwestern South America.
• Clethra rugosa – northwestern South America.
• Clethra scabra – northeastern South America .