球果杜英 qiu guo du ying

Elaeocarpus sphaericus (Gaertner) Schumann var. hayatae (Kanehira & Sasaki) C. E. Chang; E. sylvestris (Loureiro) Poiret var. hayatae (Kanehira & Sasaki) Y. C. Liu.

Trees evergreen. Branchlets glabrous. Leaves irregularly whorled; petiole 1.2-2 cm; leaf blade oblong or lanceolate to oblanceolate, 8-15 × 3-6 cm, papery, glabrous, lateral veins 6-9 per side, veinlets reticulate, base cuneate or obtuse, margin minutely serrate, apex shortly acuminate or obtuse. Racemes in axils of current and fallen leaves, 4-6 cm, laxly flowered; peduncles sparsely pubescent. Pedicel 3-6 mm, slender, puberulent. Sepals 5, lanceolate, 5-6 mm, abaxially depressed pubescent, adaxially glabrous, apex acute. Petals 5, obovate, 6-7 mm, slightly pubescent at base, especially along margin, apex laciniate; lobes 12-15. Stamens ca. 30; anthers linear, puberulent, with a tuft of hairs at apices. Ovary ovoid, villous, 4- or 5-loculed. Drupe subglobose, ca. 2 × 1.5 cm; endocarp strongly tuberculate, very hard. Fl. unknown, fr. Sep.

● Evergreen forests. S Taiwan.

This species was originally described as having a 3-loculed ovary. In Kanehira (Formos. Trees, Rev. Ed. t. 388, G & I. 1936), the cross-section of the ovary is illustrated clearly as 3-loculed but the cross-section of the fruit is 5-loculed with 4 locules degenerating. Examination of type materials by C. E. Chang (Fl. Taiwan 3: pl. 776 (1, 4). 1977) revealed that the ovary and fruit are 4- or 5-loculed. In the infrageneric system of Elaeocarpus (Tang, Acta Phytotax. Sin. 30: 385-404. 1992), species with a 5-loculed ovary and fruit belong to E. sect. Ganitrus (Gaertner) Masters but species with a 2- or 3-loculed ovary and 1-loculed fruit belong to E. sect. Elaeocarpus. Because its ovary is 4- or 5-loculed, E. hayatae is certainly not a member of E. sect. Elaeocarpus but rather a member of E. sect. Ganitrus.

This species differs from Elaeocarpus angustifolius in a number of characters, including branchlets, petioles, and abaxial leaf blade surfaces glabrous (vs. villous), leaf blades slightly smaller (8-15 × 3-6 cm vs. 9-14 × 3-4.5 cm), lateral veins fewer (6-9 vs. 10-13), veins and veinlets distinctly (vs. poorly) anastomosing, sepals adaxially glabrous (vs. villous), petal lobes 12-15 (vs. 15-25), and ovary and fruit 4- or 5-loculed (vs. 5-loculed). In view of these differences, we prefer to treat it as a distinct species rather than as a variety. In addition, up-to-date records of geographical distribution indicate that they are allopatric.

Because its leaves look similar to Elaeocarpus decipiens and E. sylvestris, E. hayatae sometimes has been treated as a synonym of these; however, as noted above, E. hayatae is in a separate section. The discovery of both 4- and 5-loculed ovaries and fruit might be important in the study of evolution of this genus. Elaeocarpus hayatae is distributed in the periphery of the section and the reduction in locules of ovary and fruit might be derived.