Sterculia platanifolia Linnaeus f. var. major W. W. Smith, Notes Roy. Bot. Gard. Edinburgh 9: 130. 1916; Hildegardia major (W. W. Smith) Kostermans.

Deciduous trees, up to 15 m tall; trunk erect; bark greenish gray-black, rough. Branchlets robust, puberulent. Petiole robust, 15-45 cm, puberulent at first, glabrescent; leaf blade palmately 3-lobed, 17-30 × 19-40 cm, usually wider than long, abaxially densely yellow-brown puberulent, glabrescent, adaxially glabrous, basal veins 5-7, base cordate, apex acute or acuminate. Inflorescence paniculate, terminal or axillary. Calyx purple-red, ca. 12 mm, hairy, divided nearly to base, lobes linear or oblong-linear. Male flowers: androgynophore long, tube-shaped. Female flowers: ovary long stalked, abaxially velutinous; ovules many; staminodes present. Follicle membranous, ca. 7 × 4.5 cm, nearly glabrous. Seeds yellow-brown, globose, ca. 8 mm, wrinkled. Fl. Jun-Jul, fr. Oct.

The synonym Hildegardia major was the source of the report in Bayer and Kubitzki (Fam. Gen. Vasc. Pl. 5: 265. 2003) that the genus Hildegardia Schott & Endlicher occurs in China.

● Slopes; 1600-3000 m. SW Sichuan, C, S, and W Yunnan.