秧青 yang qing

Dalbergia balansae Prain; D. lanceolaria Linnaeus f. var. assamica (Bentham) Thothathri; D. szemaoensis Prain.

Trees, 7-10 m tall. Branches horizontally spreading. Leaves 25-30 cm; stipules caducous, large, leaflike, ovate to ovate-lanceolate, ca. 10 × 6 mm; leaflets 13-21; petiolules ca. 5 mm, puberulent, soon glabrous; blade oblong or oblong-elliptic, 3-5(-6) × 1.5-2.5(-3) cm, papery, both surfaces sparsely ap­pressed puberulent, but soon glabrous adaxially, with close, finely, slightly prominent reticulate veinlets on both surfaces, base rounded or cuneate, apex obtuse, rounded or emarginate. Panicles axillary, lax, 10-15 × 7.5-10 cm; peduncles, branches, and pedicels densely rusty puberulent; bracts and bracteoles deciduous, ovate, puberulent. Flowers 6-8 mm. Calyx campan­ulate, 5-toothed; lowest tooth longer than tube and ca. 2 × as long as triangular, acute others, upper 2 teeth subconnate. Co­rolla white, with purple stripes inside; petals long clawed; stan­dard reflexed, orbicular, emarginate, base slightly thickened; wings broadly ovate; keel half-moon-shaped, with downward auricles on upper side below as wings. Stamens 10, diadelphous (5+5); filaments free in upper 1/3, alternately shorter and longer. Ovary stipitate, pubescent, 1-4-ovuled; style subulate, slender; stigma minute. Legume broadly ligulate or oblong to strap-shaped, 5-9 × 1.2-1.8(-2.5) cm, leathery, base attenuate, cuneate, apex acute, inconspicuously reticulate opposite 1 or 2(-4) seeds. Seeds reniform, compressed, ca. 6 × 2.5 mm. Fl. Apr-Jul, fr. Sep-Dec.

Mixed forests, open forests, among bushes, mountain slopes, riversides, wastelands beside villages; 300-1700 m. Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hainan, Sichuan, Yunnan, Zhejiang [India (Sikkim), Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam].

One of us (Chen) prefers to recognize Dalbergia assamica and D. balansae as separate species.