Rhododendron

Rhododendron, from Ancient Greek ῥόδον (rhódon), meaning "rose", and δένδρον (déndron), meaning "tree", is a very large genus of about 1,024 species of woody plants in the heath family (Ericaceae). They can be either evergreen or deciduous. Most species are native to eastern Asia and the Himalayan region, but smaller numbers occur elsewhere in Asia, and in North America, Europe and Australia.

Rhododendron

albert kok · CC BY 3.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Also called
rhododendronPBDB
Sits inside
EricaceaePBDB
Diet
"photoautotroph"PBDB, for Angiospermae

Time the record covers

At least 55 million years on record.

The record covers at least 56 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 59.24 Mya to 0 Mya.

Paleocene — about 1 of 25 occurrencesEocene — about 1 of 25 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 2 of 25 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 8 of 25 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 5 of 25 occurrencesPleistocene — about 6 of 25 occurrences60–58 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences58–56 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences56–54 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences54–52 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences52–50 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences50–48 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences48–46 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences46–44 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences44–42 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences42–40 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences40–38 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences38–36 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences36–34 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences34–32 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences32–30 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences30–28 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences28–26 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences26–24 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences24–22 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences22–20 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences20–18 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences18–16 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences16–14 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences14–12 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences12–10 Mya — about 2 occurrences10–8.1 Mya — about 2 occurrences8.1–6.0 Mya — about 2 occurrences6.0–4.0 Mya — about 2 occurrences4.0–2.0 Mya — about 5 occurrences2.0–0 Mya — about 6 occurrences56 Mya11.7 ka60 Mya0 Mya

25 occurrences of Rhododendron on record, most of them in the Miocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

25 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

12 formations

Motojuku — 36.25°N, 138.75°EChausuyama — 36.58°N, 138.17°EWulong — 30.09°N, 89.54°EOgawa — 36.42°N, 138.08°ECoal Valley — 39.31°N, 119.65°WSalmon City — 45.18°N, 113.88°WMiddle — 26.88°N, 88.32°EMula — 29.10°N, 100.67°EChangtai — 31.33°N, 98.83°EXiaolongtan — 25.42°N, 102.85°EZanda — 31.73°N, 79.56°ESanying — 26.57°N, 100.13°E

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The named rock units Rhododendron has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 10 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Rhododendron and its relatives

Miocene

Where Rhododendron and its relatives were recorded in the Miocene.

Found in the same rock

379 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 19 sites for Rhododendron, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

12 references

Each of the 25 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content2

Picture of Rhododendron

Credit
albert kok
Licence
CC BY 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC0 Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows it

Smithsonian Open Access and MorphoSource were not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itEricaceae through timeFormations of the MioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Linnaeus 1753