尾叶樟 wei ye zhang

Basionym: Beilschmiedia foveolata Merrill, J. Arnold Arbor. 19: 30. 1938; Alseodaphne camphorata (H. Léveillé) C. K. Allen; A. caudata Lecomte, nom. illeg. superfl.; Cinnamomum caudiferum Kostermans; Litsea foveolata (Merrill) Kostermans (1970), not Yen C. Yang & P. H. Huang (1978); Machilus camphorata H. Léveillé.

Small trees, up to 5 m tall, to 5 cm d.b.h. Branchlets purplish brown, terete or ± angled, densely villous initially but soon glabrate. Buds small, obconical; bud scales villous, ciliate on margin. Leaves alternate; petiole 1-1.3 cm, concave-convex, densely villous; leaf blade ovate or ovate-oblong, 9-15 × 3-5.5 cm, subleathery, densely villous abaxially and along midrib adaxially when young, villous and gray-brown abaxially and glabrous and somewhat shiny adaxially when mature, midrib and lateral veins elevated abaxially and impressed adaxially, lateral veins 6-8 pairs, arcuate, anastomosing near leaf margin, transverse veins and veinlets ± conspicuous abaxially and inconspicuous adaxially, base broadly cuneate to rounded, apex caudate-acuminate, acumen attenuate, up to 2.5 cm. Panicle axillary on young branchlets, (2.5-)5-8 cm, composed of few flowered cymes; peduncle delicate, 3-5 cm, sparsely villous. Pedicels 1-3 mm, glabrous. Flowers small. Perianth subglabrous outside and inside; perianth tube very short; perianth lobes 6, subequal, outer ones ovate, ca. 2 × 1.1 mm, inner ones broadly ovate, ca. 1.7 × 1.2 mm, all acute. Fertile stamens 9, ca. 1.2 mm (of 1st and 2nd whorls) or ca. 1.4 mm (of 3rd whorl); filaments almost as long as anthers, those of 3rd whorl each with 2 subsessile orbicular glands at middle, others glandless; anthers 4-celled; cells introrse (of 1st and 2nd whorl) or extrorse (of 3rd whorl). Staminodes 3, triangular, ca. 0.7 mm, shortly stalked; stalks villous. Ovary subglobose, ca. 0.8 mm, glabrous; style robust, ca. 0.8 mm; stigma discoid, inconspicuously 3-lobed. Fruit green when fresh, ovoid, ca. 1.3 × 1 cm, glabrous; exocarp cartilaginous, ca. 0.5 mm thick; perianth cup in fruit up to 2 cm, sulcate, corky-spotted, dilated and up to 6 mm wide at apex, undulate on margin. Fl. Apr, fr. Aug.

Valley forests, sunny places on roadsides; 800-1000(-1500) m. S Guizhou, SE Yunnan [N Vietnam].

In FRPS (31: 166. 1982) this species was treated as Cinnamomum caudiferum Kostermans (Reinwardtia 8: 35. 1970, "caudifer"), which was a nomen novum for Alseodaphne caudata Lecomte (Nouv. Arch. Mus. Hist. Nat., sér. 5, 5: 97. 1913), not C. caudatum Nees (in Wallich, Pl. Asiat. Rar. 2: 76. 1831). However, Lecomte’s name was nomenclaturally superfluous when published, and therefore illegitimate, because it included the type of Machilus camphorata H. Léveillé (Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. 9: 460. 1911), Cavalerie 1002. Kostermans was nevertheless correct to publish a nomen novum, rather than a new combination based on M. camphorata, because the combination C. camphoratum Blume (Bijdr. 571. 1826) already existed. Subsequent to FRPS, one of the present authors (Li Xiwen) has examined the holotype of Beilschmiedia foveolata Merrill, Petelot 5380 (A), which is definitely referable to C. caudiferum. Therefore, the earliest name at specific rank, the epithet of which can be legitimately combined with Cinnamomum, is B. foveolata (1938), not C. caudiferum (1970).