玉山木姜子 yu shan mu jiang zi

Actinodaphne morrisonensis (Hayata) Hayata; Fiwa morrisonensis (Hayata) Nakai.

Small trees. Branchlets slender, glabrous. Leaves alternate; petiole ca. 1 cm, glabrous; leaf blade oblanceolate, 9-15 × 2.5-3 cm, shortly hirsute along veins abaxially, glabrous adaxially, pinninerved, lateral veins ca. 12 pairs, prominent abaxially, obscure adaxially, base cuneate or obtuse, apex obtusely acuminate. Umbels axillary, pedunculate; involucral bracts ca. 4, decussate. Pedicel short, densely pubescent. Perianth tube short; perianth segments 3 or 4, oblong, ca. 2.5 cm, villous outside. Male flowers: fertile stamens 9, ca. 4.5 mm, exserted; filaments pubescent, of 3rd whorls each with 2 stipitate glands at base; anthers of 1st and 2nd whorls all introrse and 4-celled, of 3rd whorls upper 2 cells introrse, lower 2 cells lateral; rudimentary pistil lacking. Fruit ellipsoid, seated on shallowly cup-shaped perianth tube. Fl. Jun-Sep.

● Evergreen broad-leaved forests; 1000-2800 m. Taiwan.

This species was treated in FRPS (31: 257. 1982) as Actinodaphne morrisonensis. However, its four decussate involucral bracts are characteristic of Litsea, and so it should be included in that genus.