A genus of evergreen trees and shrubs, in which some fifteen species have been described, reduced to one in the revision referred to below. They are natives of the subtropical and warm temperate regions of S.E. Asia, but extending into the E. Himalaya and S.W. China (as far north as Mt Omei in W. Szechwan). Leaves alternate, entire or toothed. Flowers white, showy, borne singly on distinct pedicels in the upper leaf-axils; pedicels with two opposite bracteoles. Sepals five, much smaller than the petals. Petals five, united at the base. Stamens numerous. Style one. Fruit a globose woody capsule flattened at the apex. Seeds flat, with a narrow wing at one side. Allied to Gordonia, but in that genus the capsule is oblong and the seeds are winged at one end.
A revision of Schima by S. Bloembergen was published in Reinwardtia Vol. 2 (1952), pp. 133-83.
The type-species of the genus is S. noronhae Reinwardt ex Blume of Java and S.E. Asia, but the first species to be described (in the genus Gordonia) was S. wallichii (DC.) Korthals, which, in the narrow sense, ranges from the eastern Himalaya to Yunnan. In the revision cited above, only this species is recognised, with two subspecies – subsp. wallichii and subsp. noronhae (Bl.) Bloembergen. Of the species treated here, S. argentea is in this revision sunk in S. wallichii subsp. noronhae var. superba (Gardner & Champion) Bloembergen, and S. khasiana becomes S. wallichii subsp. wallichii var. khasiana (Dyer) Bloembergen.