冬桃 dong tao

Trees evergreen, to 20 m tall, to 50 cm d.b.h. Branchlets yellow-brown tomentose, hairs becoming brown or not; branches dark brown when dry, with sparse lenticels. Leaves crowded at twig apices; petiole 1-1.5 cm, yellow-brown tomentose; leaf blade adaxially shiny, narrowly lanceolate or oblong to oblong-oblanceolate, 6-15 × (2-)3-6 cm, papery or leathery, abaxially yellow-brown tomentose, adaxially puberulent on veins only, glabrescent, lateral veins 8-10 per side, prominently raised abaxially, conspicuous adaxially, veinlets slightly prominent abaxially, inconspicuous adaxially, base cuneate, decurrent, margin minutely crenate to serrate, apex acute. Racemes in axils of fallen and current leaves, 4-7 cm, slender; peduncles yellow-brown tomentose. Pedicel 3-6 mm, yellow-brown tomentose; bracteole 1, filiform-lanceolate, 3-4 × ca. 1 mm, pubescent, at base of pedicels. Flowers bisexual. Sepals 5, lanceolate, 4-5 mm, both surfaces puberulent. Petals 5, slightly longer than sepals, 5-6 mm, abaxially glabrous or sparsely pilose, adaxially pubescent at base, laciniate in upper 1/2; segments 10-12. Stamens 26-30, ca. 3 mm; filaments very short; anthers not awned, not pubescent at apices. Disk 5-lobed, pubescent. Ovary 3-loculed, tomentose; ovules 2 per locule; style ca. 4 mm, pubescent at base,. Drupe ellipsoid, 2.5-3 × 1.7-2 cm; exocarp black when dry, glabrous; endocarp bony, ca. 3 mm thick, lacunose, 1-loculed. Seed 1.4-1.8 cm. Fl. Jun-Jul, fr. Aug-Oct.

● Forests; 700-1000 m. Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi, Sichuan, Yunnan.