轮叶木姜子 lun ye mu jiang zi

Litsea brevipetiolata Lecomte; L. multiumbellata Lecomte; L. multiumbellata f. annamensis H. Liu; L. verticillata f. annamensis (H. Liu) C. K. Allen; L. verticillata var. brevipes Merrill & F. P. Metcalf; L. verticillata var. brevipetiolata (Lecomte) C. K. Allen.

Evergreen shrubs or small trees, 2-5 m tall. Young branchlets densely yellow hirsute and becoming glabrous. Leaves 4-6-verticillate; petiole 2-6 mm, densely yellow villous; leaf blade long lanceolate or long elliptic-oblanceolate, 7-25 × 2-6 cm, pubescent abaxially, pinninerved, lateral veins 12-14 pairs, base acute, obtuse, or rotund, apex acuminate. Umbels in cluster of 2-10 at apex of branchlet, 5-8-flowered, pale yellow, subsessile. Perianth segments (4-)6, lanceolate. Male flowers: fertile stamens 9; filaments exserted, villous, of 3rd whorls each with 2 peltate-cordate glands at base; rudimentary pistil lacking. Fruit ovoid or ellipsoid, 10-15 × 5-6 mm, seated on discoid perianth tube; fruiting pedicel short. Fl. Apr-Nov, fr. Nov-Jun of next year.

Valleys, streamsides, thickets, weed-tree forests; below 1300 m. Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan, S Yunnan [Cambodia, NE Thailand, Vietnam].

This species has a strong capacity for sprouting. The wood is relatively hard and is used for fuel. The roots and leaves are used medicinally for treating rheumatism and relieving menstrual cramping and soreness; the leaves are also applied to fractured bones and snake bites.