云南金花茶 yun nan jin hua cha

Camellia euphlebia Merrill ex Sealy var. yunnanensis C. J. Wang & G. S. Fan.

Shrubs or trees, 2-8 m tall. Young branches grayish brown; current year branchlets purplish brown, glabrous. Petiole 1-1.5 cm, glabrous; leaf blade elliptic to oblong-elliptic, 10-19.5 × 5-9.5 cm, thinly leathery, abaxially pale green and brown glandular punctate, adaxially dark green, both surfaces glabrous, midvein abaxially elevated and adaxially slightly raised, secondary veins 9 or 10 on each side of midvein, slender, abaxially raised, and adaxially slightly impressed, base cuneate to broadly cuneate, margin serrate, apex abruptly shortly caudate to caudate and with an obtuse tip. Flowers axillary, solitary or paired, 3.5-4.5 cm in diam. Pedicel 6-8 mm, thick, thickened toward apex; bracteoles 5 or 6, not covering pedicel, ovate to semiorbicular, 1-2 × 2-3 mm, outside glabrous or sparsely puberulent, inside white puberulent, margin ciliolate. Sepals 5, suborbicular, 7-9 mm, leathery, outside sparsely puberulent to subglabrous, inside white pubescent, margin ciliolate. Petals 7 or 8, pale yellow; outer 2 petals suborbicular, 1.3-1.5 × 1.1-1.5 cm, concave, outside white puberulent; inner petals elliptic to oblong-elliptic, 2-3 × 1.5-2 cm, glabrous, basally connate for 2-5 mm. Stamens ca. 1.8 cm, glabrous; outer filament whorl basally connate for ca. 5 mm. Ovary ovoid, ca. 3 mm, 3-grooved, glabrous, 3-loculed, apically 3-lobed; styles 3, distinct, ca. 2 cm. Capsule globose to oblate, (2 or)3-coccal, 4-6 × (4-)6-8 cm; pericarp 3-6 mm thick when dry. Seeds brown, hemispherical, densely yellow pubescent. Fl. Dec, fr. Sep. 2n = 30*.

● Forests on hills or slopes or in valleys; 300-1800 m. SE Yunnan.