石山巴豆 shi shan ba dou

Croton caudatiformis Handel-Mazzetti; C. cavaleriei Gagnepain.

Shrubs or treelets 3-6 m tall; indumentum stellate-pubescent, mostly very quickly deciduous; branches yellowish brown. Stipules linear, 7-8 mm, caducous; petiole 1.5-7 cm, apex with 2 stalked glands; leaf blade rotund to broadly ovate, 6.5-8.5 × 6-8 cm, papery, base cordate, rarely broadly cuneate, margins with scabrous, obtuse serration, sometimes interserratures with stalked glands, apex shortly acuminate or obtuse, sometimes caudate; basal veins (3-)5(-7), lateral veins 3-5 pairs, arcuately ascending, anastomosing near margins. Inflorescences to 15 cm, sometimes branching at base; bracts linear-triangular, 2-3 mm, glabrescent, caducous; pedicels 1-3 mm; buds pubescent at apex. Male flowers: sepals lanceolate, ca. 2.5 mm; petals smaller than sepals, margins woolly; stamens ca. 15, glabrous. Female flowers: sepals lanceolate, ca. 3 mm; petals small, subulate; ovary densely stellate-pubescent; styles bifid, glabrescent. Capsules subglobose, 1.2-1.5 × ca. 1.2 cm, densely stellate-pubescent. Seeds ellipsoidal, dark gray-brown. Fl. Apr-May, fr. Jun-Sep.

● Open forests; 200-2400 m. Guangxi, S Guizhou, S Sichuan, Yunnan.