Hovenia

Hovenia
Japanese raisin tree, Hovenia dulcis
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Eudicots
Clade:	Rosids
Order:	Rosales
Family:	Rhamnaceae
Tribe:	Paliureae
Genus:	Hovenia Thunb.
Species
See text

Hovenia is a small genus of deciduous trees or shrubs in the family Rhamnaceae. They occur naturally from India to Japan. The Japanese, or Oriental raisin tree, Hovenia dulcis, is the best known species, as it is often planted in gardens outside Asia.

Fossil record

A fossil wood with features similar to those of the Oligocene Hovenia palaeodulcis from Japan is described from the late Eocene Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument, Colorado, United States. This is the first report of fossil wood of this Asian genus in North America.^[1]

Selected species

Hovenia dulcis, fruit

• Hovenia acerba

syn Hovenia kiukiangensis

• Hovenia dulcis Thunb.

syn Hovenia inaequalis DC.

• Hovenia parviflora
• Hovenia pubescens
• Hovenia robusta
• Hovenia tomentella
• Hovenia trichocarpa

References

1. A New (Hovenia) and an old (Chadronoxylon) Fossil Wood from the Late Eocene Florissant Formation, Colorado, U.S.A. by Elisabeth Wheeler and Herbert W. Meyer, IAWA journal / International Association of Wood Anatomists (Impact Factor: 1.07). 01/2012; 33(3). DOI: 10.1163/22941932-90000096