2. Hovenia Thunberg, Nov. Gen. Pl. 7. 1781.
枳椇属 zhi ju shu
Deciduous trees or rarely shrubs, to 25 m tall. Young branches often pilose or tomentose. Leaves alternate, long petiolate, 3-veined from base, primary vein with 4-8 pairs of secondary veins, leaf base ± oblique, margin serrate. Flowers white or yellow-green, bisexual, 5-merous, in terminal or axillary, cymose panicles. Calyx tube hemispherical; lobes triangular, adaxially ± distinctly keeled. Petals elliptic to ovate, shortly clawed at base, rarely slightly emarginate apically, often ± completely enfolding stamens, ± widely reflexed during anthesis. Stamens enfolded by petals; filaments lanceolate-linear; anthers dorsifixed. Disk subrounded, thick, fleshy, often ± densely pubescent, rarely glabrous, filling calyx tube. Ovary semi-inferior, nearly completely immersed in disk, 3-loculed, with 1 ovule per locule; style 2- or 3-fid, ± deeply branched. Drupe subglobose, glabrous to densely hairy, base with persistent calyx tube, apex with rudimentary style; mesocarp leathery, often separating from membranous endocarp; peduncles and pedicels of infructescence becoming distinctly fleshy and juicy at fruit maturity. Seeds 3, brownish to blackish, shiny, oblate to orbicular, often spotted with minute pits.
Three species: Bhutan, China, India, Japan, Korea, Myanmar, Nepal; three species in China.
The hard timber with fine-grained wood is good for making furniture. The dilating peduncles of the infructescence are sweet and edible. The seeds are used medicinally.
