秋茄树 Kandelia obovata

  • Scientific Name: Kandelia obovata Sheue, H.Y.Liu & J.W.H.Yong
  • Ref: Taxon 52:291. 2003
  • Chinese Common Name: 秋茄树 qiūqié∙shù, 秋茄 qiūqié, 水笔仔 [粤]seoi2 bat1 zai2
  • Japanese Common Name: メヒルギ [雌蛭木/雌漂木] mehirugi, リュウキュウコウガイ [琉球笄] ryūkyūkōgai
  • Family: Rhizophoraceae
  • Genus: Kandelia
  • Distribution: Margins of mangrove swamps and muddy or sandy tidal flats; sea level. E Fujian, S Guangdong, S Guangxi, Hainan, Taiwan [S Japan].
  • Photo: 06/21/2009, South China Botanical Garden, Guangdong
Trees 1-3(-8) m tall. Bark grayish to brown, smooth. Stipules linear, 2-3 cm. Petiole 1-1.8 cm; leaf blade elliptic, oblong, or obovate-oblong, 4-12 × 2-5 cm, thick, base cuneate to attenuate, apex obtuse, rounded, or sometimes slightly emarginate. Inflorescence 2 or 3 times dichotomously branched; peduncle 1-3 cm. Pedicel 3-6 mm; bracteoles 2-4, connate. Calyx cream colored, glabrous; lobes 5 or 6, linear, 1.3-1.9 cm, reflexed after anthesis, apex acuminate. Petals inserted at base of disk, 5(or 6), white, 1-1.5 cm, 2-lobed, arista in sinuses 7-10 mm. Stamens numerous, 6-13 mm; filaments filiform; anthers lanceolate, ca. 1 mm, 2-loculed, dehiscing longitudinally. Disk cup-shaped. Ovary inferior, 1-loculed; ovules 6; style filiform, 1.4-1.6 mm; stigma lobes 3. Fruit ovoid, 1.5-2.5 × ca. 1 cm, indehiscent, calyx lobes persistent. Seed 1, viviparous. Hypocotyl clavate, 15-23 cm, terete. Fl. and fr. all year. 2n = 36. (Flora of China)

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