Description: Evergreen or deciduous shrubs, with slender branches.
Leaves opposite, simple, entire or shallowly dentate, shortly petiolate, exstipulate.
Inflorescences 1 or 3 flowered axillary or terminal cymes; flowers sessile, 2–4-bracteate at base; calyx narrowly tubular, striate, with 2–5 long, persistent lobes; corolla tubular-campanulate, 5-lobed, regular ; stamens 4; ovary inferior, 3-celled, with only 1 cell fertile and 1 ovule.
Fruits 1-seeded narrowly oblong leathery achenes crowned with persistent calyces.
Distribution and occurrence: World: 6 spp., native of China to Vietnam, Nansei-shoto to Taiwan. Australia 1 species (naturalised).
A few species are cultivated as ornamentals.
Text by K.D. Hill. Distribution and Occurrence updated by Kerry Gibbons 24 May 2023.
Taxon concept: Distribution and Occurrence: Kew Plants of the World Online; Australian Plant Census [both accessed 24 May 2023].
| One species in NSW: Abelia x grandiflora |
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