头序楤木 tou xu cong mu

Aralia chinensis Linnaeus var. dasyphylloides Handel-Mazzetti; A. dasyphylloides (Handel-Mazzetti) J. Wen.

Shrubs or small trees, 1.5-10 m tall, andromonoecious. Branches with short, straight prickles less than 6 mm. Leaves 2-pinnately compound, with a pair of accessory leaflets at each division of rachis; petiole longer than 30 cm, densely yellow-brown tomentose, prickly or unarmed; petiolules 0-5 mm; leaflets 7-9 per pinna, ovate to broadly oblong, 5.5-15.5 × 3-10 cm, subleathery, abaxially densely tomentose, adaxially densely pubescent, secondary veins 7-14 pairs, prominent abaxially, subconspicuous adaxially, tertiary veins conspicuous, base rounded to subcordate, margin mucronate-serrulate, apex acute to acuminate. Inflorescence a terminal panicle of heads or dense umbels, unarmed; primary axis to ca. 60 cm; secondary axes 40-65 cm, densely yellow-brown tomentose; ultimate axes with a terminal umbel of bisexual flowers and 1 to several lateral umbels of male flowers; bracts persistent, oblong, ca. 3 mm; umbels 7-12-flowered; pedicels 0.5-2 cm or flowers sessile in heads. Ovary 5-carpellate; styles 5, free. Fruit globose to subglobose, 3-4 mm in diam.; styles persistent, radiating. Fl. Aug-Oct, fr. Oct-Dec.

Forests, forest margins, along streams, roadsides and rocky slopes on hillsides and mountains; 100-1300(-1900) m. S Anhui (Qimen), Chongqing (Nanchuan, Wuxi), Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, C and SW Hubei (Dangyang, Jianshi), Hunan, Jiangxi, Sichuan, Zhejiang (Tianmu Shan) [Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam].

This species is circumscribed broadly by the first author to include material from Java, Sumatra, and S Peninsular Malaysia, which comprises Aralia dasyphylla sensu stricto, along with gatherings from China, which Wen (Cathaya 15-16: 79-82. 2004) recognized as a distinct species, A. dasyphylloides , based on a suite of distinguishing features including leaflet color, shape, and cuticle features, the indument and bracts of the inflorescence, and fruit shape.