陀螺果 tuo luo guo

Melliodendron jifungensum Hu; M. wangianum Hu.

Trees 6--20 m tall. Trunk to 20 cm d.b.h., bark gray-brown often irregularly exfoliating. Winter buds ovate, ca. 1 cm. Petiole 3--10 mm; leaf blade ovate-lanceolate to oblong-elliptic, 9.5--21 X 3--8 cm, papery, densely stellate pubescent when young, glabrescent except on veins, base cuneate, apex shortly acuminate to acute, secondary veins 7--9 pairs, tertiary veins reticulate and abaxially raised. Flowers subsessile to pedicel ca. 1.5 cm. Calyx 3--4 mm, teeth ca. 2 mm. Corolla lobes oblong, 2--3 X 0.8--1.5 cm. Style ca. 1.3 cm. Fruit variable in form and size, usually obovoid, obconical, or obovoid-pyriform, (2--)4--7 X 1.5--3(--4) cm, 5--10-ribbed, densely gray stellate tomentose, apex rounded, acute, or shortly rostrate. Fl. Apr-May, fr. Jul-Oct.

* Forest ravines; 600--1500 m. Fukien, N Guangdong, NW Guangxi, Guizhou, Hunan, Jiangxi, S Sichuan, SE Yunnan.