Species: Cratoxylum cochinchinense
English Name: Yellow Cow Wood
Chinese Name: 黃牛木
Family: Theaceae
Description:
Shrubs or trees, deciduous, 1.5-18(-25) m tall, glabrous. Trunk with clusters of long thorns on lower part. Bark gray-yellow or gray-brown, smooth or finely striate. Twigs somewhat compressed, glabrous and pink when young, interpetiolar scars not always continuous. Petiole 2-3 mm, glabrous; leaf blade abaxially gray-green, adaxially green, elliptic to oblong or lanceolate, 3-10.5 × 1-4 cm, papery, both surfaces glabrous, abaxially with pellucid or dark glands, midvein abaxially raised, adaxially impressed; secondary veins 8-12 pairs, oblique, not or irregularly joining at the margins; veins and veinlets reticulate, raised on both surfaces, base obtuse to cuneate, apex abruptly acute or acuminate. Cymes axillary or extra-axillary and terminal, (1 or)2 or 3-flowered, pedunculate; peduncles 3-10 mm or longer. Pedicel 2-3 mm. Flowers 1-1.5 cm in diam. Sepals accrescent, oblong, 5-7 × 2-5 mm, with dark linear glands on entire surface, apex rounded. Petals deep crimson to pink or pinkish yellow, obovate, 5-10 × 2.5-5 mm, with dark linear glands between veins, base cuneate, apex rounded; petal-scale absent. Stamen fascicles 4-8 mm, stalk broad to slender, with 40-55 stamens. Fasciclodes oblong to obovate, cucullate, to 3 × 1-1.5 mm, apex thickened and recurved; connective with gland or not. Ovary conic, ca. 3 mm, glabrous; styles ca. 2 mm. Capsule brown, ellipsoid, 0.8-1.2 cm × 4-5 mm, to 2/3 covered by persistent calyx. Seeds (5 or)6-8 per locule, 6-8 × 2-3 mm. Fl. Apr-May, fr. after Jun.
Photos used under a Creative Commons license
References:
– Wu ZY, Raven PH, Hong DY (eds) (2007). Flora of China, Volume 13: Clusiaceae through Araliaceae. Science Press, Beijing, and Missouri Bot Garden Press, St. Louis