海南核果木 hai nan he guo mu

Trees up to 20 m tall; bark gray to gray-brown; branchlets angulate, with prominent lenticels. Petiole 8-10 mm, usually transversely wrinkled; leaf blade oblong or elliptic to ovate, 5-9 × 2-4 cm, papery or subleathery, base obliquely cuneate or broadly so, margin entire, apex obtuse; lateral veins 8-10 pairs, reticulate veins dense and prominent. Male flowers clustered, axillary; pedicels ca. 4 mm; sepals 4, membranous, ovate or rounded, 6-8 mm, concave, abaxially puberulent; stamens ca. 18; filaments flattened and broad; anthers oblong, ca. 2 mm; disk annular. Female flowers usually solitary, axillary; sepals and disk as in male; ovary ovoid, 2-locular. Fruiting pedicels ca. 5 mm; drupes globose, 2-2.5 cm in diam., scurfy-hairy; exocarp leathery; mesocarp fleshy; endocarp woody, thinner than mesocarp, 2-celled, 1-seeded in each cell. Seeds subelliptic, ca. 1.2 cm. Fl. Feb-Apr, fr. Jun-Aug.

Evergreen forests, among limestone rocks; 200-900 m. Hainan [?Thailand, Vietnam].

The timber from Drypetes hainanensis is straight, hard, nonsplintering, and fine-grained; it is used for vehicle construction, agricultural implements, machinery, etc.

The description given for material from Thailand shows a number of possibly significant differences and the identity of these plants needs investigation.