木油桐 Vernicia montana

  • Scientific Name: Vernicia montana Lour.
  • Ref: Fl. Cochinch.:586. 1790
  • Synonyms: Aleurites montanus (Lour.) E.H.Wilson; A. vernicius (Corrêa) Hassk.; Dryandra vernicia Corrêa; Elaeococca montana (Lour.) Oken
  • English Common Name: chine wood oil tree, mu oil tree
  • Chinese Common Name: 木油桐 mùyóu∙tóng, 千年桐 [粤]cin1 nin4 tung4
  • Family: Euphorbiaceae
  • Genus: Vernicia
  • Distribution: Open forests; below 1600 m. Anhui, Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hainan, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi, Taiwan, Yunnan, Zhejiang [Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam; cultivated in Japan].
  • Photo: 05/08/2016, Lishui, Zhejiang
Trees evergreen, up to 20 m tall, usually dioecious; bark brown; branches glabrous, with sparsely elevated lenticels. Petiole 7-17 cm, glabrous, apex with 2 stalked and cupular glands; leaf blade broadly ovate, 8-20 × 6-18 cm, pubescent on both surfaces when young, only abaxially pubescent along base of nerves at maturity, base cordate to truncate, margin entire or 2-5-fid, apex acute to acuminate, sinus usually with cupular glands. Inflorescences produced with new leaves, usually unisexual. Male flowers: calyx ca. 10 mm, 2- or 3-fid, glabrous; petals obovate, 2-3 cm, base clawed, white or purple-red at base and with purple-red nerve-stripes; stamens 8-10; filaments hairy, outer filaments free, inner filaments connate at and below middle. Female flowers: calyx and petals as in male; ovary densely brown pubescent, 3-locular; styles 3, bipartite. Drupes ovoid, 3-5 cm in diam., longitudinally 3-angular, between angles with sparsely reticulate wrinkles, 3-seeded. Seeds compressed globose; seed coat thicker, verrucose. Fl. Apr-Jun, fr. Jul-Oct. (Flora of China)

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