{{Short description|Genus of shrubs}} {{Automatic taxobox |image = Trichocladus crinitus.JPG |image_caption = ''Trichocladus crinitus'' |display_parents = 2 |taxon = Trichocladus |authority = Pers. |synonyms = ''Dahlia'' {{small|Thunb.}} |synonyms_ref = <ref name = powo>{{cite web |title=''Trichocladus'' Pers. |url=https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:19620-1 |website=Plants of the World Online |publisher=Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew |access-date=28 October 2025}}</ref> }}
'''''Trichocladus''''' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Hamamelidaceae, consisting of shrubs or small trees. The distinguishing features of the genus ''Trichocladus'' are as follows: *'''Branches''' and leaves are often covered in dense, velvet-like, stellate hairs. *'''Leaves''' are simple, alternate or opposite, and paler beneath, with inconspicuous stipules. *'''Flowers''' are borne in dense, spherical heads, with floral parts in 4s or 5s. Sepals are fused together, forming a tube. Petals are long and narrow. ''Trichocladus'' flowers closely resemble those of the genus ''Hamamelis'' and are hermaphroditic or sexually separate, with male and female parts being borne on different flowers, either on the same plant of different plants (either monoecious or dioecious). *'''Fruits''' consist of a two-valved capsule which appears to be 4-valved at its apex.<ref name="Coates">Coates-Palgrave, M. 2002. Keith Coates-Palgrave "Trees of Southern Africa", edn 3, imp. 4. Random House Struik (Pty), Ltd, Cape Town. {{ISBN|9781868723898}}. pp 243, 245</ref>
==Species== Four species are accepted.<ref name = powo/><ref name="Missouri">Missouri Botanic Garden, TROPICOS Nomenclatural Data Base, 09 September 2007 [http://mobot.mobot.org/cgi-bin/search_vast?onda=N40017427]</ref> * ''Trichocladus crinitus'' {{small|(Thunb.) Pers.}} * ''Trichocladus ellipticus'' {{small|Eckl. & Zeyh.}} * ''Trichocladus goetzei'' {{small|Engl.}} * ''Trichocladus grandiflorus'' {{small|Oliv.}}
==Distribution== Species range through eastern and Southern Africa from Ethiopia to Angola and South Africa,<ref name = powo/> including South Africa<ref name="Coates" /><ref name="mabberley">Mabberley, D. J., "Mabberley's Plant-Book", 3rd ed., Cambridge University Press, 2008. {{ISBN|9780521820714}} (hardback) pp 836</ref> and Zimbabwe.<ref name="Coates" />
==Etymology== ''Trichocladus'' is derived from Greek and means 'hairy-branched' (τριχός ''trichos'', ‘hair’; κλάδος ''klados'', ‘branch’).<ref>Gledhill, David (2008). "The Names of Plants". Cambridge University Press. {{ISBN|9780521866453}} (hardback), {{ISBN|9780521685535}} (paperback). pp 385</ref>{{citation needed|reason=Gledhill writes: Trichocladus, trichocladus -a -um Hairy-branched, τριχος-κλαδος. It seems highly unklikely that 'trichocladus' is a syntactic compound with the specific use of the genitive singular. It is common to mention a genitive singular case in addition to the nominative singular case (for consonant stems), but not without mentioning the nominative case. A better source than Gledhill is needed.|date=March 2025}}
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{Commons category-inline|Trichocladus}}
{{Taxonbar|from=Q7840730}}
Category:Hamamelidaceae genera Category:Afromontane flora Category:Taxonomy articles created by Polbot Category:Hamamelidaceae
{{Saxifragales-stub}}