香桦 xiang hua

Betula kweichowensis Hu.

Trees to 25 m tall; bark grayish black, fragrant. Branchlets brown, yellow pubescent at first, soon glabrescent, fragrant. Petiole 0.8-2 cm; leaf blade elliptic or ovate-lanceolate, 8-13 × 3-6 cm, abaxially densely resinous punctate, villous along veins, bearded in axils of lateral veins, adaxially sparsely villous, base subrounded or subcordate, margin doubly mucronate serrate, apex acuminate or caudate-acuminate; lateral veins 12-15 on each side of midvein. Female inflorescence erect or recurved, oblong, 2.5-4 × 1.5-2 cm; peduncle obscure; bracts 7-12 mm, densely pubescent and ciliate, 3-lobed, lobes lanceolate, lateral lobes erect, ca. 1/2 as long as middle lobe. Nutlet narrowly oblong, ca. 4 × 1.5 mm, glabrous, with membranous wings 1/4-1/2 as wide as nutlet. Fl. May-Jun, fr. Jul-Aug.

* Broad-leaved forests; 1400-3400 m. Guizhou, W Hubei, Sichuan

The bark, timber, leaves, and buds yield fragrant oil.