Osteomeles

{{Automatic taxobox

| image = Osteomeles anthyllidifolia 2.jpg

| image_caption = Osteomeles anthyllidifolia ({{okina}}Ūlei)

| display_parents = 3

| taxon = Osteomeles

| authority = Lindl.{{cite web |url=http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/genus.pl?8637 |title=Osteomeles Lindl. |work=Germplasm Resources Information Network |publisher=United States Department of Agriculture |date=2009-01-30 |access-date=2009-03-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110605221048/http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/genus.pl?8637 |archive-date=2011-06-05 |url-status=dead }}

}}

Osteomeles is a genus of plants in the rose family, Rosaceae. They are shrubs native to eastern Asia, with compound leaves, opposite leaf arrangement, and small pome fruit.{{citation |chapter-url=http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=2&taxon_id=123353 |title=Flora of China online |chapter=Osteomeles Lindley, Trans. Linn. Soc. London, Bot. 13: 96, 98. 1821 |author=Gu Cuizhi (Ku Tsue-chih) and Stephen A. Spongberg |volume=9 |year=2003}} The fruits of all species in this genus are edible.{{citation needed|date=October 2015}}

Taxonomy

The genus has sometimes been considered to include South American species of Hesperomeles which, like Osteomeles, have only one ovule per locule and hard pyrenes. But Hesperomeles notably have simple leaves, and recent molecular phylogenetics suggest that the two genera are only distantly related.{{citation |author1=Li, Q.-Y. |author2=Guo, W. |author3=Liao, W.-B. |author4=Macklin, J.A. |author5=Li, J.-H. |year=2012 |title=Generic limits of Pyrinae: Insights from nuclear ribosomal DNA sequences |journal=Botanical Studies |volume=53 |pages=151–164 |url=http://ejournal.sinica.edu.tw/bbas/content/2012/1/Bot531-14/Bot531-14.html }}

Selected species

Osteomeles anthyllidifolia (Sm.) Lindl.
Osteomeles schwerinae C.K.Schneid. (China)
Osteomeles subrotunda K.Koch (China and Ryukyu islands)

References

Category:Rosaceae genera