陀螺果属 tuo luo guo shu

Trees, deciduous. Winter buds ovate, enclosed by scales. Leaves alternate; stipules absent; leaf blade margin serrate. Pedicel elongated, jointed. Flowers bisexual, 1 or 2 in leaf axils of older shoots, opening before or at same time as leaves. Calyx tube obconical, adnate to ovary, 4-toothed to undulate, expanding in fruit. Corolla campanulate, divided almost to base; lobes 5, imbricate. Stamens 10, in 1 series, equal, much shorter than corolla; filaments basally connate into a tube, adnate to corolla tube; anthers oblong. Ovary inferior, imperfectly 5-locular; ovules 4 per locule, erect to pendulous, placentation axile. Style slender, linear; stigma capitate or obscurely 5-lobed. Fruit mostly adnate to calyx, ribbed or angular, tomentose apex usually produced beyond the calyx into a beak, wall thick and woody, indehiscent. Seeds ellipsoid, flattened; seed coat membranous; endosperm fleshy.

One species: endemic to China.

Lower Taxon

• Melliodendron xylocarpum Handel-Mazzetti