喙果皂帽花 hui guo zao mao hua

Desmos rostratus (Merrill & Chun) P. T. Li.

Trees to 4 m tall. Branches sparsely hairy when young. Petiole 5-10 mm, sparsely hairy; leaf blade elliptic to oblong, 13-21.5 × 3.5-7.5 cm, papery, both surfaces glabrous or very sparsely hairy, abaxially glaucous, midvein abaxially sparsely hairy and adaxially glabrous, secondary veins 10-16 on each side of midvein and adaxially flush, base rounded to slightly attenuate, apex acute to acuminate. Flowers on young growth. Pedicel 1.2-4 cm, sparsely hairy. Sepals 2-3.5 × 1.5-3.5 mm. Petals ovate, 2-4 × 0.7-1.2 cm, leathery, generally not twisted, outside densely hairy; floral chamber 1-2 cm, ca. 50% of petal length. Stamens ca. 120; connectives apically truncate; pollen echinate. Carpels ca. 10; stigmas glabrous. Fruiting pedicel 2-5 cm, very sparsely hairy; monocarp stipes 6-13 mm; monocarps orangish red, subglobose when 1-seeded or moniliform when more than 1-seeded, 1.1-2 × 0.6-0.8 cm, terminal apiculus 2-4 mm; constrictions 2-3 mm wide. Seeds 1 or 2 per monocarp, subglobose, 8-9 × 6-7 mm. Fl. Apr-Oct, fr. Jul-Dec.

Sparsely forested slopes; 300-1000 m. ?Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan, SE Xizang, S Yunnan [Vietnam].

Dasymaschalon rostratum has been reported from Fujian (X. L. Hou & S. J. Li, J. Trop. Subtrop. Bot. 11: 171-173. 2003), but two of us (Wang and Saunders) believe the identity of this report is suspect and needs to be confirmed.