紫锦木 zi jin mu

Euphorbia cotinoides Miquel, Linnaea 21: 473. 1848.

Trees, evergreen, 13-15(-19) m; trunk to 12(-17) cm thick. Branches spreading, dark red. Leaves 3-whorled; petiole 2-9 cm, less reddish; leaf blade ovate-rounded, 2-6 × 2-4 cm, both surfaces red, base subtruncate, margin entire, apex obtuse; main vein prominent at both surfaces, lateral veins numerous pairs, reticulate before reaching margin. Cyathia numerous, peduncle ca. 2 cm; involucre broadly campanulate, ca. 4 × 2.5-3 mm, lobes 4-6, triangular, pilose on margin; glands 4-6, dark green, rounded, appendages white, lobed. Male flowers numerous, bracts linear. Female flower exserted from involucre; ovary 3-angular, with vertical furrows, conspicuous. Capsule 3-angular-ovoid, ca. 5 × 6 mm, smooth, glabrous. Seeds subglobose, ca. 3 mm in diam., brown, adaxially dark striate; caruncle absent. Fl. and fr. Apr-Nov.

Cultivated and escaped. Fujian, Hainan, Taiwan; also widely cultivated in greenhouses of C and N China [native to Central and South America].

Euphorbia cotinifolia subsp. cotinifolia differs most obviously by the orbiculate, apically rounded leaf blades. It is not cultivated, unlike subsp. cotinoides, which is cultivated throughout the tropics.