角叶鞘柄木 jiao ye qiao bing mu

Shrubs or trees, deciduous, 2.5–8 m tall. Bark gray; old branches yellow-gray. Leaves with petiole green, 2.5–8 cm, glabrous; leaf blade 6–15 × 5.5–15.5 cm, thinly papery, veins palmate, 5–7(–9), conspicuous on both surfaces, slightly 5–7 (–9)-lobed, lobes near base smaller, glabrous, base truncate to shallow cordate, margin entire or dentate, apex acuminate to caudate. Staminate inflorescence 5–30 cm, densely pubescent. Staminate flowers: calyx tube obconical, calyx lobes triangular; petals oblong-lanceolate, ca. 1.8 mm; stamens alternate petals; filaments ca. 0.5 mm, glabrous; anthers oblong, ca. 1.5 mm; disk pulvinate, circular; pedicel ca. 2 mm, slender, sparsely pubescent, subtended by two bracteoles; bracteoles narrowly lanceolate, 0.3–1.3 mm. Carpellate inflorescence usually to 35 cm. Carpellate flowers: calyx of carpellate flowers bell-shaped, glabrous; teeth of calyx lanceolate, ciliate at apex; floral disk inconspicuous, flat; ovary obovoid, locules 3. Fruit ovoid, ca. 4 mm in diam. Fl. Apr, fr. Jun. 2n = 24*.

Forest margins, streamsides; 900–2000 m. S Gansu, Guangxi, Guizhou, W Hubei, Hunan, Shaanxi, Sichuan, SE Xizang, Yunnan.

Plants with lobed or angled leaves with a dentate margin are intermediate between Toricellia tiliifolia (with unlobed leaves with a serrate margin) and typical T. angulata (with lobed leaves with an entire margin). The intermediate form has a wider distribution than both extremes in China. Toricellia tiliifolia is more restricted to SE Xizang and Yunnan, and the typical T. angulata occurs in W Hubei, E and SE Sichuan, and SE Xizang. The intermediate form, which occurs in S Gansu, Guangxi, Guizhou, W Hubei, Hunan, Shaanxi, Sichuan, and Yunnan, has been recognized as a separate species, T. intermedia Harms ex Diels (Bot. Jahrb. Syst. 29: 507. 1901), or as T. angulata var. intermedia (Harms) H. H. Hu (J. Arnold Arbor. 13: 336. 1932). The intermediates may represent hybrids between T. tiliifolia and T. angulata, or introgression from T. tiliifolia into T. angulata. Cytological and molecular studies are needed to test these hypotheses. Because the lobed leaf blade in the intermediate plants appears to be a more stable feature than the serrate margin, we here treat the intermediate plants as part of the species with lobed leaves, T. angulata.

The intermediate plants are used medicinally in folk remedies. Alcoholic beverages infused with the roots or bark are used to cure injuries. Macerated roots and bark are used as pastes to cure injuries to livestock.