湖北鹅耳枥 hu bei e er li

Carpinus funiushanensis P. C. Kuo; C. huana W. C. Cheng; C. longipes Hu.

Trees to 18 m tall; bark gray. Branchlets dark purplish, glabrous. Petiole short, 0.7-1.5 cm, densely or sparsely villous; leaf blade ovate-lanceolate, ovate-elliptic, or narrowly elliptic, 6-10 × 2.4-4.5 cm, abaxially glandular punctate, sericeous-villous along veins, bearded in axils of lateral veins, adaxially sparsely villous, base rounded or subcordate, margin doubly dentate-serrate, apex acute or acuminate, sometimes subobtuse; lateral veins (11-)13-16 on each side of midvein. Female inflorescence 6-11 × 2-3 cm; peduncle 1.5-2 cm, densely villous; bracts semiovate, 1-1.6 cm × 7-10 mm, sparsely villous along reticulate veins, outer margin remotely serrate-dentate or incised-serrate, without basal lobe, inner margin entire, with inflexed basal auricle, apex obtuse or acute; veins 5. Nutlet broadly ovoid, ca. 5 × 4 mm, glabrous except villous at apex, prominently ribbed. Fl. May-Jun, fr. Jul-Aug.

* Subtropical forests; 700-1800 m. Anhui, S Henan, W Hubei, N Hunan, Jiangxi, Shaanxi, Zhejiang

This species may easily be confused with Carpinus fargesiana, C. pubescens, and C. turczaninowii. However, it differs from C. fargesiana and C. turczaninowii in its larger leaves, from C. pubescens in its glabrous nutlet, and from all three species in its glandular-dotted abaxial leaf surface.