枣叶槿 zao ye jin

Kydia zizyphifolia Griffith, Itin. Pl. Khasyah Mts. 108. 1848; Dicellostyles jujubifolia (Griffith) Bentham; D. zizyphifolia (Griffith) Phuphathanaphong; K. jujubifolia Griffith; Nayariophyton jujubifolium (Griffith) T. K. Paul.

Trees or small trees 5-8 m tall. Branches and branchlets densely stellate pubescent. Stipules subulate; petiole 1-3 cm, stellate pubescent; leaf blade ovate or suborbicular, sometimes obscurely 3-lobed, 7-15 × 4-9 cm, abaxially densely stellate pilose, adaxially sparsely stellate pubescent or glabrescent, basal veins 5-7, base subcordate or rounded, margin entire, apex acute to acuminate. Pedicel 0.5-1.5 cm, stellate pubescent. Epicalyx lobes (3-)4-6, oblong-lanceolate, 1-1.5 × ca. 0.5 cm,
accrescent, conspicuously striate and reticulate, abaxially densely stellate velutinous, adaxially sparsely stellate pubescent, apex rounded. Calyx lobes 5, triangular, ca. 1 × 0.4-0.5 cm, connate for 1/2 length, stellate hairy. Corolla ca. 2.5 cm in diam.; petals 5, white or yellow, oblong, 1-2.5 × 1-1.5 cm, abaxially densely stellate pubescent, adaxially with simple hairs at base. Filament tube 0.8-1 cm, hairy; anthers many, reniform. Ovary ovoid; style branches 2, ca. 2.5 cm, densely stellate hairy; stigma capitate, rugose. Fruit subglobose, ca. 8 mm in diam., densely stellate pubescent. Seeds ca. 4 × 3 mm, glabrous.

Broad-leaved forests; ca. 1600 m. SW Yunnan (Zhenkang) [Bhutan, India, Thailand].

The epithet of Kydia jujubifolia Griffith (Not. Pl. Asiat. 4: 534. 1854) is often used for this taxon but, as Long and Miller (loc. cit.) pointed out, Griffith used the epithet "zizyphifolia" in his earlier notes (loc. cit.), which include a validating description.