鹅掌柴 e zhang chai

Vitis heptaphylla Linnaeus, Mant. Pl. 2: 212. 1771; Aralia octophylla Loureiro; Heptapleurum octophyllum (Loureiro) Bentham ex Hance; Paratropia cantoniensis Hooker & Arnott; Schefflera atrifoliata R. H. Miao; S. octophylla (Loureiro) Harms; S. rubriflora C. J. Tseng & G. Hoo.

Trees, to 15 m tall, andromonoecious. Petiole (5-)10-30 cm; petiolules 1.5-5 cm; leaflets 6-9(-11), elliptic to oblong-elliptic or obovate-elliptic, 7-18 × 3-5 cm, papery to leathery, densely stellate pubescent when young, glabrescent except on midvein and in axils of veins, secondary veins 7-10 pairs, tertiary veins inconspicuous, base attenuate or cuneate to obtuse or rounded, margin entire, often serrate or pinnately lobed on young plants, apex abruptly acute to acuminate. Inflorescence a terminal panicle of umbels, densely stellate tomentose, glabrescent; primary axis to 35 cm; secondary axes 25(-35) cm, with a terminal umbel of bisexual flowers and several to many lateral umbels of bisexual or more often male flowers, usually also with 1 to several bisexual flowers borne just below apical umbel; pedicels 4-5 mm. Calyx pubescent at first, entire or 5- or 6-toothed. Ovary 5-9(or 10)-carpellate; styles united into a thick column less than 1.5 mm. Fruit globose, ca. 5 mm in diam., inconspicuously angled when dry; styles persistent, to ca. 1.5 mm. Fl. Sep-Dec, fr. Dec-Feb.

Evergreen broad-leaved forests on mountain slopes; 100-2100 m. Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hunan, Jiangxi, SE Xizang, Yunnan, S Zhejiang [India, Japan, Thailand, Vietnam].

This species is used for its timber and also medicinally.