倒吊笔 dao diao bi

Anasser laniti Blanco; Wrightia annamensis Eberhardt & Dubard; W. kwangtungensis Tsiang; W. laniti (Blanco) Merrill; W. pubescens subsp. laniti (Blanco) Ngan.

Trees to 35 m tall. Trunk to 60 cm in diam.; bark yellowish brown; young branchlets yellowish pubescent, glabrate with age, densely lenticellate. Petiole ca. 1 cm; leaf blade narrowly oblong, ovate, or narrowly ovate, 5-10 X 3-6 cm, papery, puberulent to glabrous adaxially, densely pubescent to puberulent or glabrescent except along veins abaxially, veins 8-15 pairs. Cymes ca. 5 cm, pubescent. Sepals ovate to broadly so, 2-5 mm. Corolla white or pinkish white, funnelform, tube 5-6.5 mm; lobes oblong, 1-2 cm; corona fringed, scales 10, as long as or longer than anthers, puberulent inside. Stamens pubescent, inserted at mouth of corolla; anthers exserted. Ovaries connate, glabrous. Follicles connate, sublinear, 15-30 X 1-2 cm, not lenticellate. Seeds narrowly fusiform, coma to 3.5 cm. Fl. Apr-Aug, fr. Aug-Dec.

Secondary rain forests, dry woods; ca. 400 m. Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hainan, Yunnan [Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam; Australia]

The wood is used for making furniture, poles, seals, and musical instruments. Bark fibers are used for making paper and artificial cotton. Extracts from the roots and bark are used to treat scrofula and rheumatic arthralgia.