Nyssaceae

Nyssaceae is a family of flowering trees. Sometimes, it is grouped together with the dogwood family, called Cornaceae. This family has 37 known species divided into five groups.

One group is called Camptotheca, known as the happy trees, with two species found in China. Another is Davidia, also called the dove tree, handkerchief tree, or ghost tree, with one species in central China. Diplopanax has two species in southern China and Vietnam. Mastixia includes about nineteen species in Southeast Asia. Finally, there is Nyssa, the tupelos, with about 7 to 10 species found in eastern North America and stretching to Southeast Asia.

Some scientists place Davidia in its own family, called Davidiaceae. Diplopanax and Mastixia are sometimes put in a family called Mastixiaceae. The Angiosperm Phylogeny Group, in its APG III system, included Nyssaceae within Cornaceae, but the APG IV system recognizes Nyssaceae as its own distinct family.