大理茶 da li cha

Thea taliensis W. W. Smith, Notes Roy. Bot. Gard. Edinburgh 10: 73. 1917; Camellia changningensis F. C. Zhang et al.; C. irrawadiensis Burua; C. pentastyla Hung T. Chang; C. quinquebracteata Hung T. Chang & C. X. Ye; Gordonia yunnanensis (Hu) H. L. Li; Polyspora yunnanensis Hu.

Shrubs or trees, 2-8 m tall. Young branches grayish brown; current year branchlets purplish brown, glabrous; terminal buds glabrous or sparsely pubescent. Petiole 5-10 mm, glabrous; leaf blade elliptic to oblong-elliptic, 8.5-15 × 3-5.5 cm, leathery, abaxially pale green, adaxially dark green and shiny, both surfaces glabrous, midvein pale yellow, abaxially elevated, and adaxially slightly raised, secondary veins 7 or 8 on each side of midvein and slightly raised on both surfaces, base cuneate to broadly cuneate, margin sparsely serrate to undulate-serrate, apex acute to shortly acuminate and with an obtuse tip. Flowers axillary, solitary or to 3 in a cluster, ca. 5 cm in diam. Pedicel ca. l cm, thickened toward apex, glabrous; bracteoles 2 or 3(or 4), caducous. Sepals 5, persistent, ovate, 3-4 × 4-6 mm, leathery, outside glabrous, inside white sericeous, margin ciliolate. Petals 7-10, white, obovate to broadly obovate, 1.5-3.5 × 1-2 cm, apex rounded; inner petals basally connate. Stamens ca. 2 cm, glabrous; outer filament whorl basally connate for ca. 6 mm. Ovary white tomentose, 5-loculed; style ca. 2 cm, glabrous, apically 5-lobed to 5-parted. Capsule oblate, ca. 3 × 5 cm, 5-loculed with 2 seeds per locule; pericarp 1-2 mm thick when dry. Seeds brown, hemispherical, 1.5-1.8 cm in diam. Fl. Oct-Nov, fr. Sep-Oct. 2n = 30.

Forests on mountain slopes or in valleys; 1300-2400(-2700) m. W Yunnan [N Myanmar, N Thailand].