桤木 qi mu

Trees to 40 m tall; bark gray, smooth. Branchlets gray or gray-brown, glabrous. Buds stipitate, with 2 scales, glabrous. Petiole 1-2 cm, glabrous, sometimes light yellow pubescent when young; leaf blade obovate, obovate-oblong, oblong, or oblanceolate, 4-14 × 3.5-8 cm, abaxially densely glandular, subglabrous, bearded in axils of lateral veins, adaxially sparsely glandular, villous when young, glabrescent, base cuneate or subrounded, margin obscurely and remotely obtusely serrate, apex abruptly acute; lateral veins 8-10 on each side of midvein. Female inflorescence 1, axillary, oblong, 1-3.5 × 0.5-2 cm; peduncle pendulous, slender, 4-8 cm, glabrous, sometimes pubescent when young. Nutlet ovate, ca. 3 mm, with membranous wings ca. 1/2 as wide as nutlet. Fl. May-Jul, fr. Aug-Sep.

* Forests on mountain slopes or along streambanks; 500-3000 m. SE Gansu, N Guizhou, S Shaanxi, Sichuan, Zhejiang; cultivated in Jiangsu