红叶野桐 hong ye ye tong

Basionym: Mallotus paxii Pampanini, Nuovo Giorn. Bot. Ital., n.s., 17: 414. 1910; M. stewardii Merrill ex F. P. Metcalf.

Branchlets and inflorescences gray stellate-tomentulose and scattered stellate-pilose. Leaf blade triangular-ovate, sometimes ovate, papery, abaxially gray stellate-tomentulose, scattered reddish glandular-scaly, adaxially dull brown or reddish-brownish when dry, scattered stellate-pilose. Male inflorescences 5-15 cm. Male flowers 3-9-fascicled; calyx lobes 4, ca. 3 mm. Female inflorescences or infructescences 5-14 cm. Female flowers: styles 3(or 4), ca. 4 mm. Capsule stellate-pilose, spines 5-8 mm. Seeds subglobose, ca. 4 mm in diam., black, verruculose. Fl. May-Jul, fr. Jul-Sep.

● Mountain valleys or slopes, thickets, secondary forests, roadsides; 300-1200 m. Anhui, Fujian, NE Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, S Shaanxi, E Sichuan, Zhejiang.

This taxon is based on material misidentified as Mallotus albus Müller Argoviensis by Pax (Bot. Jahrb. Syst. 29: 429. 1900).