Linnaeoideae

Linnaeoideae consists of shrubby plants that are mainly deciduous, but may be evergreen. Some, such as Linnaea, are creeping, others, such as Abelia, may be up to tall. The usually paired flowers are surrounded by an 'epicalyx' – a structure resembling the calyx that is composed of involucral bracts. A nectary is present inside the tube of the corolla. Two of the three or four locules of the inferior ovary are sterile and are empty at maturity. There are four stamens. The fruit is an achene, topped by usually persistent sepals. ==Taxonomy==

The subfamily Linnaeoideae was erected by Constantine Samuel Rafinesque in 1820. In 1998, Anders Backlund raised it to the full family Linnaeaceae. The APG IV system reduced it again to a subfamily of Caprifoliaceae, a position supported in a 2024 review of the systematics of the Caprifoliaceae. Genera Six genera were included in a 2015 molecular phylogenetic study of the subfamily. , the same genera were included by the Angiosperm Phylogeny Website, although two of them were synonymized. , all six genera were accepted by Plants of the World Online. • Abelia R.Br. • Diabelia Landrein (may be treated as a synonym of Abelia) • Dipelta Maxim. • Kolkwitzia Graebn. • Linnaea L. • Vesalea M.Martens & Galeotti Some older sources also include the genus Zabelia, but this is excluded in other sources, which may place it in its own subfamily, Zabelioideae. Phylogeny A study published in 2015 included the following cladogram showing the possible relationships among the genera included in the subfamily. Four purely Asian genera formed a subclade, distinct from the circumboreal Linnaea and the Mexican Vesalea. }} ==Distribution==

Linnaeoideae has a disjoint distribution. Four genera (Abelia, Diabelia, Dipelta, and Kolkwitzia) are native to East Asia, primarily China. Vesalea is native to Mexico. The monospecific genus Linnaea has a very wide distribution throughout the subarctic and temperate Northern Hemisphere. ==Cultivation==

Some of the shrubby species are grown as ornamental plants. , five cultivars of Abelia had gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit, as had one species of Dipelta, one cultivar of Kolkwitzia, and one species of Vesalea. File:Abelia chinensis—flowers.jpg|Abelia chinensis File:Abelia spathulata ツクバネウツギ 衝羽根空木 やしろの森公園DSCF8779.JPG|Diabelia spathulata File:DipeltaFloribunda.jpg|Dipelta floribunda File:Kolkwitzia amabilis4.jpg|Kolkwitzia amabilis File:Linnaea borealis - Karen Dillman.jpg|Linnaea borealis File:Abelia floribunda (18154046245).jpg|Vesalea floribunda ==References==