木果楝 mu guo lian

Carapa obovata Blume.

Trees or shrubs, to 5 m tall. Branches gray, smooth, glabrous. Leaves ca. 15 cm; petiole and rachis cylindric, glabrous; petiole 3-5 cm; leaflets usually 4, opposite; petiolules ca. 4 mm, base inflated; leaflet blades elliptic to obovate-oblong, 4-9 × 2.5-5 cm, subleathery, both surfaces glabrous and usually pale, secondary veins 8-10 on each side of midvein, ascending, anastomosing near margin, reticulate veins sparse and ± obvious, base cuneate to broadly cuneate, margin entire, apex rounded. Cymes consisting of 1-3 flowers, many cymes forming thyrses, glabrous. Pedicel 1 cm or more. Calyx lobes rounded. Petals white, obovate-oblong, ca. 6 mm, leathery. Staminal tube lobes suborbicular and weakly 2-cleft; anthers ellipsoid, glabrous, base cordate. Disk ± as high as ovary, base contracting, apex fleshy, striate. Style subquadrigonal, glabrous; stigma ± as long as staminal tube. Capsule 10-12 cm in diam., stipitate, with 8-12 seeds. Fl. and fr. Apr-Nov.

Mangrove forests. Hainan [India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam; E Africa, W Pacific islands].

The bark contains ca. 30% tannin. The red, hard wood is used as timber.