枇杷叶柯 pi pa ye ke

Trees 10-15 m tall; branches of current year and leaf blades abaxially with tawny stellate or forked long hairs. Petiole 1-2 cm; leaf blade obovate-elliptic, obovate, or sometimes elliptic, 12-20 × 4-7 cm, rigidly papery, concolorous, base cuneate to broadly so and decurrent on petiole, margin entire, apex acute to acuminate; secondary veins 12-16 on each side of midvein, adaxially impressed, abruptly curving apically, partly fusing near margin; tertiary veins abaxially conspicuous, ± parallel. Male inflorescences in a panicle. Female inflorescence with cupules in clusters of ca. 3. Infructescences ca. 12 cm; rachis 5-8 mm thick. Cupule plate-shaped, 5-8 mm × 1.8-2.2 cm, enclosing 1/8-1/5 of nut, wall to 2 mm thick and woody near base; bracts imbricate, triangular to rhomboid, appressed, puberulent. Nut conical to ellipsoid, 2.5-3 × 1-1.5 cm, apex ± flattened, wall ca. 1 mm thick; scar ca. 1.3 cm in diam., concave. Fl. May-Jun, fr. Aug-Oct of following year.

* Mixed mesophytic forests; 1000-1500 m. NE Guizhou, W Hubei, NW Hunan, E Sichuan