无患子 wu huan zi

Sapindus abruptus Loureiro; S. mukorossi Gaertner.

Trees, deciduous, to 20 m tall. Bark grayish brown or blackish brown; young branches green, glabrous. Leaves with petiole 25-45 cm or longer, axis slightly flat, grooved adaxially, glabrous or pilosulose; leaflets 5-8 pairs, usually subopposite; petiolule ca. 5 mm; blades adaxially shiny, narrowly elliptic-lanceolate or slightly falcate, 7-15 × 2-5 cm, thinly papery, abaxially glabrous or pilosulose, lateral veins 15-17 pairs, nearly parallel, dense, slender, base cuneate, slightly asymmetrical, apex acute or shortly acuminate. Inflorescences terminal, conical. Flowers actinomorphic, small. Pedicels very short. Sepals ovate or oblong-ovate, larger ones ca. 2 mm, abaxially pilose at base. Petals 5, lanceolate, ca. 2.5 mm, abaxially villous at base or subglabrous, long clawed; scales 2, earlike, at base adaxially. Disk acetabuliform, glabrous. Stamens 8, exserted; filaments ca. 3.5 mm, densely villous below middle. Ovary glabrous. Fertile schizocarps orange, black when dry, subglobose, 2-2.5 cm in diam. Fl. spring, fr. summer-autumn.

Usually cultivated by temples, in gardens, and alongside villages. Anhui, Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hainan, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Sichuan, Taiwan, Yunnan, Zhejiang [India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Myanmar, New Guinea, Thailand, N Vietnam].

This species is used medicinally.