节蒴木属 jie shuo mu shu

Shrubs or small trees, evergreen. Twigs quadrangular with rounded angles. Stipules absent. Leaves opposite, palmately ternate compound; petiole long; leaflet blade margins entire. Inflorescences terminal, racemes; bract at base of pedicels, linear, simple except 1 or 2 on basalmost pedicel pairs with (1 or)3 leaflets. Flower parts spirally arranged on receptacle. Sepals 5-8, connate, forming a tube, membranous. Petals 5-8, distinct, erect, obviously shorter than calyx tube, proximally valvate and distally imbricate. Stamens 60-70 at summit of gynophore. Nectary conical, ascending from petal base to stamen base, surrounding androgynophore. Ovary linear, distally with 4-6 vertical grooves and ridges, 4-6-locular, with axile placentae, each locule with ovules in 2 rows. Fruit a capsule, linear, terete, dehiscent along ventral suture from base to apex leaving persistent axis with 4-6 ridges. Seeds reniform; embryo bent, scarcely differentiated.

One species: S China, Myanmar.

Lower Taxon

• Borthwickia trifoliata W. W. Smith