草鞋木 cao xie mu

Mallotus henryi Pax & K. Hoffmann in Engler, Pflanzenr. 63(IV. 147. VII): 177. 1914.

Shrubs or trees, 2-16 m tall. Branchlets ferruginous tomentulose; branches glabrous, often glaucous. Stipules lanceolate, 5-8 mm, pilose, caducous; petiole 2.5-10 cm; leaf blade oblong-ovate or oblong-lanceolate, 10-25 × 3.5-7 cm, papery to thickly papery, abaxially sparsely glandular-scaly, puberulent along veins, becoming glabrous, base rounded to subtruncate, narrowly peltate or slightly cordate, with 2 or 4 glands, margin repand or subentire, apex acuminate or caudate; veins 7-10 pairs. Male inflorescences branched, 6-10 cm, glabrescent; bracts triangular, ca. 1.5 mm. Male flowers 3-5 per bract; pedicel ca. 1 mm; sepals 3, ca. 1 mm; stamens 6-12. Female inflorescences unbranched or with a few branches, 5-12 cm, glabrous; bracts triangular, ca. 2 mm, sometimes lowermost 1 or 2 bracts leaflike, 1-3 cm. Female flower solitary; pedicel 3-10 mm; calyx urceolate, ca. 3 mm, 4-denticulate or subtruncate, basally pilose, deciduous; ovary 2-locular, sparsely softly spiny; style 2, 6-10 mm, base or half of length connate. Fruiting pedicel 7-15 mm; capsule 2-lobed, ca. 8 mm wide, sparsely glandular-scaly and with a few spines. Fl. Mar-May, fr. Jul-Sep.

Mountain slopes, limestone hills, forests; 300-1400 m. Guangxi, S Guizhou, S and SE Yunnan [N Vietnam].