香果新木姜子 xiang guo xin mu jiang zi

Trees, up to 30 m tall, ca. 2 m d.b.h. Branchlets glabrous, stout. Leaves alternate or clustered toward apex of branchlet; petiole flat, 2-3 cm, glabrous; leaf blade elliptic or broadly elliptic, 7-10 × 2.3-5 cm, glabrous on both surfaces, glaucous abaxially, triplinerved, lateral veins 2 or 3 pairs, lowermost pair arising ca. 6 mm from base, other pairs arising from above middle of blade, base broadly cuneate, apex shortly acute. Umbels axillary or lateral, solitary or 2-fascicled, 2-5-flowered; peduncle 1-2 mm. Pedicel 3-4 mm, ferruginous pubescent. Perianth segments 4, elliptic, fragrant, ferruginous pubescent outside. Male flowers: fertile stamens 6; filaments pubescent, of 3rd whorls each with 2 reniform glands at base; rudimentary pistil glabrous. Fruit ellipsoid, 13-18 × 10-13 mm, seated on flat discoid perianth tube, black-brown at maturity; fruiting pedicel stout, wrinkled. Fl. Jun-Jul, fr. Oct-Nov, or fl. Oct-Dec, fr. Apr-May of next year.

● Forest margins, roadsides, sparse forests on mountains, mixed forests; 700-1000 m. Hainan.

A record from Guangdong (in Fl. Hainan. 1: 298. 1964) is erroneous.

The wood is light and relatively easy to work; it is used for making furniture, musical instruments, plywood, decorative veneer, etc. The seed core contains ca. 60% oil.