藤构 teng gou

Broussonetia sieboldii Blume.

Shrubs, scandent, flowers always produced on leafy stems; dioecious. Bark blackish brown. Branchlets conspicuously spreading, pale gray pubescent when young, glabrescent. Leaves spirally arranged; petiole 0.8-1 cm, pubescent; leaf blade ± ovate-elliptic, simple or occasionally 2- or 3-lobed, 3.5-8 × 2-3 cm, scabrous and glabrous, base cordate to cuneate, margin finely serrate with glandular serrations at apex, apex attenuate to shortly acuminate. Male inflorescences spicate, 1.5-2.5 cm. Female inflorescences globose. Male flowers: calyx 3- or 4-lobed, adaxially pubescent; anthers yellow, elliptic-globose. Female flowers: style linear, exserted. Syncarp ca. 1 cm in diam., with stellate clusters of stout strongly barbed hairs. Fl. Apr-Jun, fr. May-Jul.

* Scrub, along trails on slopes; 300-1000 m. Anhui, Chongqing, Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi, Taiwan, SE Yunnan, Zhejiang.

Broussonetia kaempferi var. kaempferi is endemic to Japan.

The bark fibers are used for making paper.