尼泊尔桤木 ni po er qi mu

Alnus boshia Buchanan-Hamilton ex D. Don; Clethropsis nepalensis (D. Don) Spach.

Trees to 15 m tall; bark gray or dark gray, smooth. Branchlets dark brown, sparsely yellow pubescent when young, glabrescent. Buds stipitate, with 2 glabrous, ribbed scales. Petiole robust, 1-2.5 cm, subglabrous; leaf blade obovate-lanceolate, obovate-oblong, ovate, or elliptic, 4-16 × 2.5-10 cm, abaxially with dense, resinous glands, yellow pubescent along veins, bearded in axils of lateral veins, adaxially glabrous, base cuneate or broadly cuneate, rarely subrounded, margin entire or remotely minutely serrate, apex abrupt or acute, rarely acuminate; lateral veins 8-16 on each side of midvein. Female inflorescences numerous, in a panicle, ellipsoid, 2-2.2 cm × 7-8 mm; peduncle robust, 2-8 mm, glabrous; bracts ca. 4 mm, woody, persistent, base cuneate, apex rounded, 5-lobed. Nutlet oblong, ca. 2 mm, with membranous wings ca. 1/2 as wide as nutlet. Fl. May-Jun, fr. Jul-Sep. 2n = 28, 56.

Riverbanks or village margins, often forming pure stands; 200-2800 m. Guangxi, Guizhou, SW Sichuan, Xizang, Yunnan [Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sikkim, N Thailand, N Vietnam]

The wood is light and soft and is used for making inexpensive furniture and boxes.