儿茶 er cha

Mimosa catechu Linnaeus f., Suppl. Pl. 439. 1782; Acacia catechu var. wallichiana (Candolle) P. C. Huang; A. wallichi­ana Candolle.

Trees, deciduous, small, 6-10 m tall. Bark split into lami­nar strips. Branchlets pubescent, often with a pair of flat, brown, hooked spines below stipules or without spines. Leaf glands near petiolar base and between several upper leaflets of rachis; rachis villous; pinnae 10-30 pairs; leaflets 20-50 pairs, linear, 2-6 × 1-1.5 mm, ciliate. Spikes 1-4, axillary, 2.5-10 cm. Flowers yellowish or white. Calyx campanulate, 1.2-1.5 cm; teeth deltoid, hairy. Petals lanceolate or oblanceolate, ca. 2.5 cm, sparsely pubescent. Stamens numerous. Ovary ca. 1 mm, glabrous. Legume brown, straight, strap-shaped, 12-15 × 1-1.8 cm, nitid, dehiscent, stalk 3-7 mm, apex rostrate. Seeds 3-10. Fl. Apr-Aug, fr. Sep to following Jan. 2n = 26.

Native in Yunnan (Lincang, Xishuangbanna); cultivated in Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan, Taiwan, Yun­nan, Zhejiang [Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Thai­land; intro­duced elsewhere].

This plant is used medicinally.