Rhaphiolepis Lindl. in Bot. Reg.: ad t. 468. 1 Jul 1820 (' Raphiolepis' ) (nom. & orth. cons.).

Liu, Bin-Bin, Wang, Yu-Bing, Hong, De-Yuan & Wen, Jun, 2020, A synopsis of the expanded Rhaphiolepis (Maleae, Rosaceae), PhytoKeys 154, pp. 19-55 : 19

Rhaphiolepis Lindl. in Bot. Reg.: ad t. 468. 1 Jul 1820 (' Raphiolepis') (nom. & orth. cons.).

= Eriobotrya Lindl., Trans. Linn. Soc. London 13: 96, 102. 1821. Type: Eriobotrya japonica (Thunb.) Lindl. ≡ Mespilus japonica Thunb. (= Rhaphiolepis bibas (Lour.) Galasso & Banfi).

= Opa Lour., Fl. Cochinch.: 304, 308. Sep 1790. Type (vide McVaugh 1956): Opa metrosideros Lour. (= Rhaphiolepis indica (L.) Lindl.).

= × Rhaphiobotrya Coombes, Plantsman n.s., 7(3): 164. 2008 ( Eriobotrya Lindl. × Rhaphiolepis Lindl.).

Type.

Rhaphiolepis indica (L.) Lindl.≡ Crataegus indica L.

Description.

Trees, small trees, or shrubs, 40-100[-200] dm. Stems ca. 1, erect; bark gray-brown; short shoots absent; unarmed; hairy. Leaves persistent, cauline, simple; stipules deciduous or ± persistent, free, on the extreme base of petiole, rarely intrapetiolarly connate, subulate, caducous, or subulate, small, margin entire; petiole present; blade ± elliptic to oblong-lanceolate, 2-40 cm, leathery, margins flat or reflex, serrate, dentate or entire, venation penninerved (craspedodromous or camptodromous). Inflorescences in terminal racemes, panicles, or compound racemes, many-flowered. Pedicels present, short, or nearly absent. Flowers: perianth and androecium epigynous, 15-20 mm diam.; hypanthium campanulate, cupular, tubular, or obconical, the free part inside lined with an intrastaminal disk, open at the top; sepals 5, persistent or caducous; petals 5, white, yellow, or pink, obovate or orbicular, base clawed; stamens 15-20(-40); ovary inferior, carpels 2-5, ventrally and laterally connate (in upper part ventrally free), or completely connate with each other and dorsally adnate to the hypanthium, the hairy apex exposed; ovules normally 2 per carpel, rarely more; styles 2-5, connate at base and often pubescent; stigma truncate. Fruits a pome, yellowish, yellowish red, brown, dark purplish-brown, bluish, or purplish-black, subglobose, globose, or obovate, fleshy or dry, flesh mostly of hypanthial origin, sclereids absent or present, endocarp (core) thin, membranous. Seeds 1-3, large, with a thin but firm testa; endosperm absent, cotyledons thick. 2 n = 34.

About 45 species ( Vidal 1965, 1968, 1970; Kalkman 1973, 2004; Gu and Spongberg 2003) in East & Southeast Asia and the Himalayas, south to Borneo and Sumatra.