中国苦树 zhong guo ku shu

Trees, ?deciduous, up to 15 m tall. Branches yellow-green when young, glabrous, purplish red, gray-white lenticellate when old. Leaves alternate, odd-pinnate; stipules early decidu-ous; petiole 4-7 cm, ca. 1/3 of rachis, terete, sparsely puberulent or glabrous; leaflets 5-9, opposite or nearly so; petiolule 3-9 mm; blades oblong or ovate-oblong, 7-13 × 2.5-5 cm, papery or thickly papery, glabrous, base cuneate or broadly cuneate, oblique with one side sometimes slightly rounded, margin entire or sometimes sinuate or shallowly sinuate-serrate, apex long acuminate or caudate-acuminate; midrib and lateral veins prominent, especially abaxially, lateral veins 5-8 pairs. Panicles axillary, 5-12 cm, longer in males than in females. Flowers polygamous, usually 4-merous, sometimes 5-merous, smaller in males than in bisexuals; pedicel 2.5-3 mm. Sepals 4, ovate, 0.6-1 mm, abaxially puberulent. Petals 4, yellow-green, ovate-oblong, 2-2.5 mm, apex obtuse, abaxially very sparsely puberulent or glabrous. Stamens 4, as long as petals; filaments white, long hairy. Disk 4-lobed, long white hairy. Bisexual flowers: pedicel 4-5 mm; sepals 4, broadly ovate, ca. 1.5 mm, abaxially puberulent; petals 4, ovate-oblong, 4-5 mm, apex obtuse or acute, abaxially very sparsely puberulent or glabrous; stamens 4, ca. 1/2 as long as petals, filaments white, long hairy; ovary 4-loculed; style terete, stigma 4-lobed. Druparium red-brown when ripe, globose, 10-13 × 7-9 mm; testa wrinkled when dry; petals persistent, oblong or ovate-oblong, 10-13 × 7-9 mm. Fl. Apr-May, fr. Jun-Aug.

● Sparse forests, mountain thickets; 600-1400 m. Guangxi, Xizang, Yunnan.