佛肚树 fo du shu

Erect shrubs to 2 m tall, with woody stem swollen at base or lower part; branches stout and short, fleshy, sparsely lenticellate. Stipules spiniform, persistent leaf scar large and prominent; petiole 8-10 cm, glabrous; leaf blade peltate, rotund to elliptic, 8-18(-25) × 6-16 cm, nitid green adaxially, gray-green abaxially, glabrous on both surfaces, base truncate or obtuse, margin entire or shallowly 2-6-lobed, apex obtuse; palmate veins 6-8. Inflorescences terminal, long pedunculate, branching short, red; calyx ca. 2 mm; sepals rotund, ca. 1 mm; petals obovate-oblong, ca. 6 mm, red; stamens 6-8, connate at base; anthers nearly as long as filaments; ovary glabrous; styles 3, connate at base, bifid at apex. Capsules ellipsoidal, 1.3-1.8 × ca. 1.5 cm, with 3 longitudinal grooves. Seeds ca. 1.1 cm, smooth. Fl. and fr. almost throughout year.

Cultivated for medicine and ornamental purposes. Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan, Yunnan [native to Central America; widely introduced].

All parts are used as medicine for reduction of swelling, for pain relief, and to detoxify snakebites.