茶条木属 cha tiao mu shu

Shrubs or small trees, dioecious. Leaves alternate, 3-foliolate, estipulate. Thyrses terminal or axillary, solitary or 2- or 3-fascicled; bracts and bracteoles small. Flowers unisexual. Sepals 5, imbricate, outer 2 smaller, persistent. Petals 5, longer than calyx, base with one 2-lobed scale adaxially, clawed. Disk shortly terete in lower part, cupular in upper part, margin membranous, wavy. Stamens (male flowers) 8, slightly exserted; filaments filiform, conduplicate in flower buds; anthers ellipsoid. Ovary (female flowers) shortly stalked, subglobose, 2-loculed or sometimes 3-loculed; ovules 2 per locule, inserted on middle axis, in pairs; style terminal, erect, subulate. Capsules obcordiform, 2- or 3-lobed, lobes obovoid or subglobose; pericarp leathery or nearly woody. Seeds 1 per locule, obovoid or subglobose; testa black and shiny, arillode absent; hilum orbicular.

One species: SW China, N Vietnam.

Lower Taxon

• Delavaya toxocarpa Franchet