鹰爪花 ying zhua hua

Annona hexapetala Linnaeus f., Suppl. Pl. 270. 1782; A. uncinata Lamarck; Artabotrys odoratissimus R. Brown, nom. illeg. superfl.; A. uncatus (Loureiro) Baillon; A. uncinatus (Lamarck) Merrill; Unona uncinata (Lamarck) Dunal; Uvaria esculenta Roxburgh ex Rottler; U. odoratissima Roxburgh; U. uncata Loureiro.

Shrubs to 10 m tall, climbing. Branchlets glabrous or glabrescent. Petiole 4-8 mm; leaf blade oblong to broadly lanceolate, 6-16(-25) × 2.5-6(-8) cm, papery, abaxially glabrous or only midvein puberulent, adaxially glabrous, secondary veins 8-16 on each side of midvein and adaxially prominent, base cuneate to acute, apex acuminate to acute. Inflorescences 1- or 2-flowered. Flowers 2.5-3 cm in diam., fragrant. Sepals green, ovate, 5-8 mm, sparsely puberulent. Petals greenish to yellowish, oblong-lanceolate, 3-4.5 × 0.9-1.6 cm, outside basally densely pubescent, contracted nearly to base but basally expanded. Stamens oblong; connectives apically 3-angular. Carpels oblong, glabrous. Monocarps ovoid, 2.5-4 × ca. 2.5 cm, glabrous, apex conspicuously apiculate. Seeds pale brown, 1.5-2 cm, smooth. Fl. May-Aug, fr. May-Dec. 2n = 16.

Widely cultivated, rarely naturalized; 100-300 m. Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hainan, Jiangxi, Taiwan, Yunnan, Zhejiang [native to S India and Sri Lanka].

The flowers of Artabotrys hexapetalus are fragrant and are used as perfume and in tea; its fruit are used as medicine for scrofula.