银木 yin mu

Cinnamomum inunctum (Nees) Meisner var. albosericeum Gamble.

Medium- to large-sized trees, 16-25 m tall, 0.6-1.5 m d.b.h. Bark gray, smooth. Branchlets slightly robust, angled, white sericeous. Buds ovoid; bud scales white sericeous, apex emarginate and apiculate. Leaves alternate; petiole 2-3 cm, plano-convex, white sericeous initially but soon glabrate; leaf blade elliptic or elliptic-oblanceolate, 10-15 × 5-7 cm, subleathery, white sericeous on whole surface but especially on veins abaxially, pubescent adaxially, pinninerved, lateral veins ca. 4 pairs, arcuate-ascendant, evanescent within leaf margin, lateral veins and midrib elevated on both surfaces, axils of lateral veins shallowly dome-shaped abaxially, slightly bullate adaxially, veins ± conspicuous on both surfaces, veinlets reticulate, shallowly foveolate under lens, base cuneate, apex shortly acuminate. Panicle axillary, up to 15 cm, many flowered, branched; branches slender, up to 6 cm, branches and rachis sericeous. Perianth tube obconical, densely white sericeous outside, ca. 1 mm; perianth lobes 6, subequal, broadly ovate, ca. 1.5 × 1.2 mm, acute, sparsely white sericeous outside but densely so inside, glandular. Fertile stamens 9, ca. 1.2 mm (of 1st and 2nd whorls) or ca. 1.5 mm (of 3rd whorl); filaments almost as long as anthers, those of 3rd whorl each with 2 orbicular-reniform glands, others glandless; anthers broadly ovate (of 1st and 2nd whorls) or ovoid-oblong (of 3rd whorl), all 4-celled; cells introrse (of 1st and 2nd whorls) or extrorse (of 3rd whorl). Staminodes 3, narrowly triangular-subulate, shortly stalked, villous. Ovary ovoid, ca. 0.5 mm; style elongate, ca. 1.1 cm; stigma discoid, inconspicuous. Fruit globose, less than 1 cm in diam., glabrous; perianth cup in fruit ca. 5 mm, dilated into a disk, up to 4 mm wide at apex. Fl. May-Jun, fr. Jul-Sep.

● Valleys, mountain slopes; 600-1000 m. S Gansu, S Shaanxi, Sichuan.

The root wood, called "silver wood," is used for making sculpture; it contains a large amount of camphor. The timber of the trunk is yellow-brown, finely grained, and used for making cabinets and furniture.