厚壳桂 hou ke gui

Beilschmiedia chinensis Hance, J. Bot. 20: 79. 1882.

Trees, up to 20 m tall, to 10 cm d.b.h. Bark dark gray, scabrid. Old branchlets robust, ± angled, brownish sparsely lenticellate; young branchlets terete, striate, grayish brown tomentose initially but soon glabrate. Leaves alternate or opposite; petiole ca. 1 cm, concave-convex; leaf blade glaucous abaxially, shiny adaxially, narrowly elliptic, 7-11 × (2-)3.5-5.5 cm, leathery, grayish brown tomentulose when young, gradually glabrate on both surfaces, triplinerved, midrib elevated abaxially, impressed adaxially, basal lateral veins opposite, arising 2-5 mm above leaf base, upper lateral veins 2 or 3 pairs and alternate, transverse veins slender, subundulate, veinlets reticulate, conspicuous on both surfaces, base broadly cuneate, apex long or shortly acuminate. Panicles axillary and terminal, 1.5-4 cm, yellow tomentulose, pedunculate. Pedicels very short, ca. 0.5 mm, yellow tomentulose. Flowers yellowish, ca. 3 mm. Perianth yellow tomentulose outside and inside; perianth tube turbinate, short, 1-1.5 mm; perianth lobes subobovate, ca. 2 mm, acute. Fertile stamens 9, ca. 1.5 mm in 1st and 2nd whorls, ca. 1.7 mm in 3rd whorl; filaments villous, slightly longer than anthers, those of 3rd whorl each with 2 clavate glands, others glandless; anthers 2-celled; cells of 1st and 2nd whorls introrse, those of 3rd whorl lateral-extrorse. Staminodes subulate-sagittate, villous. Ovary clavate, ca. 2 mm; style filiform; stigma inconspicuous. Fruit globose or oblate, 7.5-9 × 9-12 mm, purple-black when mature, 12-15-angulate. Fl. Apr-May, fr. Aug-Dec.

● Evergreen broad-leaved forests in shady valleys; 300-1100 m. Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan, Sichuan, Taiwan.

The wood is finely grained, easily cut, and is used for furniture.