广西苹婆 guang xi ping po

Trees, to 7 m tall. Branchlets sparsely pubescent when young. Petiole 1-1.5 cm, base and apex pulvinate, sparsely pubescent; leaf blade simple, obovate or elliptic-obovate, 10-18 × 4.5-6 cm, thinly leathery, abaxially subglabrous, adaxially glabrous, lateral veins 9-11 on each side of midrib, curved upward, ± connected near margin, base cuneate, apex acute or acuminate. Inflorescence and flowers not seen. Follicle scarlet, cylindrical-ellipsoid, 3.5-6 × 1.5-2 cm, 3-seeded, base rounded, apex beaked, densely yellow pubescent and stellate pilose. Seeds blackish, ellipsoid, 10-12 × ca. 8 mm, glossy. Fr. Jun.

● Guangxi.

Sterculia guangxiensis was compared in the protologue to S. lanceolata Cavanilles, but the petiole of the former is distinctly pulvinate at both ends, suggesting a closer relationship to S. lanceifolia, which differs by the longer (2.5-3.5 cm) petiole and rounded, not cuneate, base of the leaf blade.