Elaeocarpus sylvestris

Species: Elaeocarpus sylvestris

English Name: Woodland Elaeocarpus

Chinese Name: 山杜英

Family: Elaeocarpaceae

Description:
Trees to 15 m tall. Branchlets slender, sparsely pale pilose. Petiole 1-1.5 cm, sparsely pubescent at first, glabrescent; leaf blade black-brown when dry, obovate or oblanceolate, 4-12 × 2-7 cm, papery, both surfaces glabrous, lateral veins usually 4 or 5 per side, prominent abaxially, inconspicuous adaxially, veinlets sparse, conspicuous adaxially, base narrowly cuneate, decurrent, margin crenate or sinuately crenate, apex obtuse or shortly acuminate. Racemes in axils of fallen and current leaves, 4-6 cm; peduncles slender, glabrous, rarely gray-white pubescent. Pedicel 3-5 mm, slender, usually glabrous. Flowers bisexual. Sepals 5, lanceolate, ca. 4 mm, both surfaces sparsely pubescent. Petals 5, obovate, laciniate in upper 1/2; segments 10-12, abaxially pubescent at base. Stamens 15, ca. 3 mm; anthers not awned at apices, puberulent. Disk 5-lobed, globose, completely separate, white pubescent. Ovary pubescent, 2- or 3-loculed; style ca. 2 mm, pubescent in lower 1/2. Drupe ellipsoid, 1-1.2 × ca. 0.7 cm; endocarp thinly bony, with 3 ventral sutures. Fl. Apr-May, fr. May-Aug.

Photos used under a Creative Commons license

References:

– Wu ZY, Raven PH, Hong DY (eds) (2007). Flora of China, Volume 12: Hippocastanaceae through Theaceae. Science Press, Beijing, and Missouri Bot Garden Press, St. Louis