文冠果 wen guan guo

Shrubs or small trees, deciduous, 2-5 m tall. Branches brownish red, strong, stout, glabrous; terminal buds and lateral buds with imbricate scales. Leaves with petiole 15-30 cm; leaflets 4-8-jugate, abaxially green when fresh, adaxially deep green, lanceolate or subovate, bilaterally slightly asymmetrical, 2.5-6 × 1.2-2 cm, membranous or papery, abaxially tomentose and fascicled stellate when young, adaxially glabrous or sparsely hairy on midvein, lateral veins slender, slightly prominent on both sides, base cuneate, apex acuminate, margin
sharply serrate; terminal leaflet usually deeply 3-lobed. Inflorescences terminal, male ones axillary, erect, 12-20 cm; peduncle short, often with rudimentary scales at base. Pedicels 1.2-2 cm; bracts 0.5-1 cm. Sepals 6-7 mm, grayish tomentose. Petals white, purplish red or yellow at base, ca. 2 × 0.7-1 cm, with evident veins, claw ciliate on both sides; hornlike appendage on disk orange, 4-5 mm. Stamens ca. 1.5 cm; filaments glabrous. Ovary grayish tomentose. Capsules black, shiny, ca. 1.8 cm. Fl. spring, fr. early autumn. 2n = 30.

Hills and slopes. Gansu, Hebei, Henan, Nei Mongol, Ningxia, Shaanxi, Shandong, Shanxi [Korea].

The seeds are edible.