云南风车子 yun nan feng che zi

Basionym: Combretum yunnanense Exell, Sunyatsenia 1: 88. 1933; C. wallichii var. yunnanense (Exell) M. G. Gangopadhyay & Chakrabarty.

Leaf blade pilose on both surfaces, glabrescent with age but remaining pilose on veins. Fl. Apr-Jun, fr. Jul-Dec.

Forests, sparse forests, woods, thickets by streams, mountain valleys, ravines, riversides; 500-1600(-2000) m. S and W Yunnan [Myanmar, Thailand].

Exell described Combretum yunnanense from Yunnan, based on A. Henry 11891A (BM, holotype; E, K, MO, isotypes), mentioning that the species also grows in "Burma and the Malay Peninsula." Several additional gatherings from Yunnan were cited in the protologue, including A. Henry 12509 (A, K) and A. Henry 12546A (A, BM, E, K, MO), which, with leaf blades glabrous on both surfaces, correspond with C. griffithii. Clearly C. yunnanense is very close morphologically to C. griffithii and occurs within the E part of the distribution of the latter species. It seems more appropriate, therefore, to treat C. yun nanense at varietal rank under C. griffithii.

When Exell (in Steenis, Fl. Males., ser. 1, 4: 540. 1954) gave a much broader distribution for Combretum yunnanense, as "Bengal?, Assam?, Yunnan,. ..... Sumatra, Malay Peninsula, and NW. Borneo," his circumscription included the taxon later separated as C. chinense (see note under genus heading).