THE NUMBER OF LOQUAT SPECIES IN ERIOBOTRYA

Eriobotrya is often confused with Mespillus, Crataegus and Photinia, and the number of loquat species is disputed. Lin (2007) lists 22 species and 10 of their varieties or forma. We know that there may be 28 species and 13 of their varieties or forma. Among them 20 species and their varieties or forma originated from southern China and the rest from southeastern Asia. The taxa originated in China have all been located and identified as follows: E. bengalensis Hook.f. (Yunnan) and its forma (Yunnan), E. cavaleriei Rehd (Guangdong), E. deflexa Nakai (Taiwan) and its two varieties (Taiwan and Guangdong), E. elliptica Lindl.(Tibet), E. fragrans Champ (Guangdong), E. fulvicoma W.Y. Chun (Guangdong), E. henryi Nakai (Yunnan), E. japonica Lindl. (southern China) E. kwangsiensis Chun (Guangxi), E. malipoensis Kuan (Yunnan), E. obovata W.W. Smith (Yunnan), E. prinoides Rehd & Wils (Yunnan) and its variety (Sichuan), E. salwinensis Hand-Mazz (Yunnan), E. seguinii Card (Guangxi), E. serrate Vidal (Yunnan), and E. tengyuehensis W.W. Smith (Yunnan). Only a few of the taxa originating in southeastern Asia were located and identified. These located species were E. angustissima Hook. f (southern Vietnam), E. bengalensis f. contract Vidal (Vietnam), E. elliptica var. petelottii Vidal (Vietnam), E. macrocarpa Kurz (Myanmar), E. poilanei Vidal (Vietnam), E. prinoides var. laotica Vidal (Laos), and E. stipularis Craib (Cambodge).