白桂木 bai gui mu

Trees 10-25 m tall, d.b.h. 40 cm. Bark dark purple, exfoliating. Young branchlets 1.5-2 thick, grayish to whitish appressed puberulent. Stipules linear, caducous. Leaves distichous; petiole 1.5-2 cm, pubescent; leaf blade elliptic to obovate, 8-15 × 4-7 cm, pinnately lobed on young trees, leathery, abaxially green to whitish green and with farinaceous pubescence, adaxially dark green and puberulent on midvein when young, base cuneate, margin entire, apex acuminate to shortly acuminate; veins conspicuous and grayish white when dry, secondary veins 6-7 on each side of midvein, apically curved, abaxially prominent, and adaxially flat. Inflorescences axillary, solitary. Male inflorescences ellipsoid to obovoid, 1.5-2 × 1-1.5 cm; peduncle 2-4.5 cm, pubescent; bracts shield-shaped. Male flowers: calyx lobes 4, spatulate, densely pubescent, adnate to bracts; anther ellipsoid. Fruiting syncarp pale to golden yellow, ± globose, 3-4 cm in diam., brown pubescent, papillate; peduncle 3-5 cm, shortly pubescent. Fl. spring to summer.

* Broad-leaved evergreen forests; 100-1700 m. Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan, S Hunan, Jiangxi, SE Yunnan.

The milky latex is used for making stiff rubber and the wood for furniture.