肥皂荚 Gymnocladus chinensis

  • Scientific Name: Gymnocladus chinensis Baill.
  • Ref: Bull. Mens. Soc. Linn. Paris 1:34. 1874
  • English Common Name: soap tree, Chinese coffeetree
  • Chinese Common Name: 肥皂荚 féizào∙jiá, 肥皂树 féizào∙shù, 油皂 yóuzào, 肉皂角 ròu∙zàojiǎo
  • Family: Fabaceae
  • Genus: Gymnocladus
  • Distribution: Slopes, mountain sides, mixed forests, sides of rocks, near vil­lages, beside houses; 100-1500 m. Anhui, Fujian, Guangdong, Guang­xi, ?Guizhou, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Sichuan, ?Yunnan, Zhe­jiang.
  • Photo: 11/26/2015, Yuquan Campus, Zhejiang University
Trees, 5-12 m tall. Bark grayish brown, with conspicuous whitish lenticels. Branchlets of current year ferruginous or whitish puberulent, glabrescent. Leaves 20-25 cm, without stip­ules; rachis sulcate, puberulent; pinnae opposite, subopposite, or alternate, 5-10 pairs; leaflets alternate, 8-12 pairs, subses­sile, with subulate stipels; blades oblong, 2.5-5 × 1-1.5 cm, both surfaces silky pubescent, both ends rounded, base slightly oblique, apex sometimes emarginate. Racemes puberulent. Flowers polygamous, pendulous, whitish or tinged with purple, long pedicellate. Bracts small or absent. Receptacle deeply con­cave, 5-6 mm, puberulent. Sepals subulate, slightly shorter than receptacle. Petals oblong, slightly longer than sepals, hairy, apex obtuse. Filaments pubescent. Ovary sessile, glabrous, 4-ovuled; style short, thick; stigma capitate. Legume oblong, 7-10 × 3-4 cm, compressed or turgid, glabrous, apex shortly beaked. Seeds 2-4, blackish, subglobose, slightly compressed, ca. 2 cm in diam., glabrous. Fr. Aug. 2n = 28*. (Flora of China)

11/26/2015, Yuquan Campus, Zhejiang University

11/26/2015, Yuquan Campus, Zhejiang University

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