All Floras      Advanced Search
FOC Vol. 7 Page 102, 103, 104, 247 Login | eFloras Home | Help
FOC | Family List | FOC Vol. 7 | Lauraceae

24. Cryptocarya R. Brown, Prodr. 402. 1810.

厚壳桂属 hou ke gui shu

Authors: Xi-wen Li, Jie Li & Henk van der Werff

Ravensara Sonnerat.

Trees or shrubs, evergreen. Bud scales few, leaflike. Leaves alternate, rarely subopposite, usually pinninerved, rarely triplinerved. Flowers bisexual, small, arranged into a subterminal and usually short panicle. Perianth tube turbinate or ovoid, persistent, contracted on top after caducous. Fertile stamens 9, inserted on throat of perianth tube; filaments of 1st and 2nd whorls glandless, those of 3rd whorl each with 2 glands at base; anthers 2-celled; cells of 1st and 2nd whorls introrse, those of 3rd whorl extrorse. Staminodes of innermost whorl, shortly stalked, glandless. Ovary sessile, enveloped by perianth tube; style sublinear; stigma small, inconspicuous, rarely peltate. Fruit drupelike, globose, ellipsoid, or oblong, wholly enveloped by fleshy or hard and dilated perianth tube but leaving a small mouth on top, smooth or many angled outside.

Between 200 and 250 species: tropical and subtropical regions, absent from C Africa, center of diversity in Malaysia but reaching as far as Australia and Chile; 21 species (15 endemic) in China.

The Chinese species of the genus all belong to Cryptocarya subg. Cryptocarya, characterized by plants with 9 fertile stamens. The species with 3 or 6 stamens previously placed in Cryptocarya are now included in the genus Aspidostemon Rohwer & H. G. Richter.

Cryptocarya austrokweichouensis X. H. Song (J. Nanjing Inst. Forest. 1984(4): 49. 1984) was described from S Guizhou (Libo) but could not be treated here because no material was seen by the present authors.


1 Leaves triplinerved   (2)
+ Leaves pinninerved   (3)
       
2 (1) Fruit oblate, 12-18 × 15-25 mm, inconspicuously angled; leaf blade large, narrowly elliptic to elliptic-ovate, 10-15 × 5-8.5 cm; branchlets, petioles, and leaf blade abaxially usually ± rusty tomentose.   1 C. densiflora
+ Fruit globose or oblate, 7.5-9 × 9-12 mm, 12-15-angulate; leaf blade narrowly elliptic, 7-11 × (2-)3.5-5.5 cm; branchlets, petioles, and leaf blade abaxially usually glabrate.   2 C. chinensis
       
3 (1) Leaf venation conspicuously elevated, densely reticulate on both surfaces   (4)
+ Leaf venation not densely reticulate on both surfaces   (6)
       
4 (3) Young branchlets pubescent; leaf blade oblong-elliptic or oblong-lanceolate, 4.5-10.2 × 2-4.5 cm, lateral veins 7-9 pairs.   3 C. yaanica
+ Young branchlets glabrous; leaf blade ovate or ovate-elliptic, rarely elliptic, 7-13 × 2.5-6 cm, lateral veins 3-6 pairs   (5)
       
5 (4) Leaf blade ovate-elliptic, 9-11 × 4.5-6 cm, lateral veins 5 or 6 pairs.   4 C. elliptifolia
+ Leaf blade ovate, rarely elliptic, 7-13 × 2.5-5.5 cm, lateral veins 3-5 pairs.   5 C. lyoniifolia
       
6 (3) Fruit corky-spotted.   6 C. maculata
+ Fruit not corky-spotted   (7)
       
7 (6) Fruit very smooth, not angled   (8)
+ Fruit not smooth, conspicuously or inconspicuously angled   (9)
       
8 (7) Fruit ovoid, 1.5-1.8 cm; panicle short, much shorter than leaf blade, few branched; leaf blade oblong or oblong-elliptic, 8-26 × 2.5-7.5 cm, purple-green and whitish abaxially.   7 C. brachythyrsa
+ Fruit ellipsoid or narrowly ellipsoid, 2-2.5 cm; panicle large and several branched; leaf blade elliptic or oblong, 7.5-18 × 5-6.5 cm, gray-brown and opaque abaxially.   8 C. amygdalina
       
9 (7) Fruit globose, subglobose, or oblate   (10)
+ Fruit narrowly ellipsoid, ellipsoid, or ovoid   (13)
       
10 (9) Fruit oblate, large, ca. 2.1 × 2.3 cm.   9 C. depauperata
+ Fruit smaller, less than 1.5 cm   (11)
       
11 (10) Leaf blade (6.5-)10.5-19 × (3.5-)4.2-8.5 cm, abaxially sparsely yellowish brown pubescent, densely so along midrib and lateral veins, yellow-green, not whitish.   10 C. calcicola
+ Leaf blade smaller, 5-12 × 2-4.5 cm, abaxially glabrous except hairy along midrib and lateral veins, always whitish   (12)
       
12 (11) Panicle 5-10 cm.   11 C. maclurei
+ Panicle short, 2-3 cm.   12 C. kwangtungensis
       
13 (9) Fruit more than 2.5 cm   (14)
+ Fruit smaller, less than 2.5 cm   (15)
       
14 (13) Fruit ovoid, rugose and warty, inconspicuously angled; leaf blade lanceolate to oblong-lanceolate, 9-13 × 2.5-4.5 cm; branchlets and leaves glabrate; panicle spikelike, 3-8 cm, few flowered.   13 C. hainanensis
+ Fruit ellipsoid, not rugose and warty, ± conspicuously angled; leaf blade narrowly elliptic, large, (9-)15-28 × (2.5-)5.5-14 cm; branchlets and leaves ± densely rusty pubescent; panicles towerlike, axillary ones (5-)7.5-15 cm, terminal ones up to 19 cm, many flowered.   14 C. acutifolia
       
15 (13) Leaf blade transverse veins conspicuously elevated abaxially.   20 C. impressinervia
+ Leaf blade transverse veins not elevated abaxially   (16)
       
16 (15) Panicles variable, sometimes few flowered, much shorter than leaf, 2-4 cm, sometimes many flowered, as long as 1/2 of blade or more, 5.5-12 cm.   21 C. yunnanensis
+ Panicle not variable, ± uniform, less than 10 cm   (17)
       
17 (16) Leaf blade thickly leathery, very shiny adaxially.   17 C. tsangii
+ Leaf blade leathery, subleathery, or papery, opaque or slightly shiny adaxially   (18)
       
18 (17) Panicles ca. 10 cm; leaf blade glabrous on both surfaces.   16 C. metcalfiana
+ Panicles shorter, less than 8 cm; leaf blade sparsely pubescent abaxially or on both surfaces   (19)
       
19 (18) Fruit narrowly ellipsoid, 1.5-2 cm; leaf blade usually smaller.   15 C. concinna
+ Fruit ellipsoid, 1.2-1 cm; leaf blade usually larger   (20)
       
20 (19) Fruit ca. 1.7 × 1 cm; leaf blade leathery, oblong or elliptic-orbicular, very rarely obovate.   18 C. chingii
+ Fruit ca. 1.2 × 0.7 cm; leaf blade subleathery, lanceolate, lanceolate-elliptic, or elliptic, very rarely obovate.   19 C. leiana

  • List of lower taxa


     

    Related Objects  
  • Cryptocarya (PDF)
  • PDF

  • Flora of China @ efloras.org
    Browse by
    Volume
    Family
    Genera
    Advanced Search


    Flora of China Home


    Checklist

     

     

     |  eFlora Home |  People Search  |  Help  |  ActKey  |  Hu Cards  |  Glossary  |