桃榄 tao lan

Planchonella annamensis Pierre in Dubard, Notul. Syst. (Paris) 2: 83. 1911; Sideroxylon annamense (Pierre) Lecomte; S. hainanense Merrill.

Trees (10--)15--20 m tall. Bark gray. Branchlets slightly reddish brown pubescent at apex. Leaves scattered; petiole 1.5--3.5(--4.5) cm; leaf blade lanceolate, oblong-obovate, or elliptic-lanceolate, 6--17 X 2--5 cm, both surfaces densely reddish brown pubescent when young, glabrescent, adaxially shiny, base cuneate, apex rounded, obtuse, or rarely retuse, lateral veins 5--9(--11) pairs. Flowers usually in cluster of 1--3 with a short peduncle. Pedicels 1--3 mm, rust colored pubescent. Sepals rounded, 2--2.5 mm, outside rust colored pubescent. Corolla white, lobes rounded. Staminodes subulate. Ovary subglobose; disc densely rust colored villous. Style 2--2.5 mm, glabrous. Fruit a juicy berry, green becoming purple-red, sessile or subsessile, globose, 2.5--4.5 cm, apex obtuse; pericarp thick, glabrous; 2--5-seeded. Seeds ovoid, ca. 1.8 cm, compressed; seed coat pale yellow, scar lateral, narrowly oblong, almost as long as seed. Fl. May.

Forest, occasionally beside trails near villages; middle elevations. Guangxi, Hainan [N Vietnam].

Fruit fleshy and juicy, good tasting; bark used medicinally; source of timber.