Trees or very rarely shrubs, usually dioecious. Leaves in spirals or rarely opposite, pinnate; leaflets alternate, subopposite, or alternate, petiolulate, not always an equal number on each side of rachis; leaflet blade base usually oblique, margin usually entire, very rarely serrulate. Flowers appearing bisexual, 4- or 5-merous, in axillary thyrses, rarely spikes, sometimes borne on older branches or bole. Calyx cup-shaped, 4- or 5-lobed or of 4 or 5 free sepals. Petals 4 or 5, oblong, valvate or apex ± imbricate in bud, free or sometimes basally adnate to staminal tube. Staminal tube cylindric, slightly shorter than petals, apex often laciniate or crenate; anthers 8-10, included in apex of filament tube. Disk tubular, as high or higher than ovary (rarely shorter), margin entire or crenate. Ovary (3 or)4- or 5-locular, with 1 or 2 ovules per locule; style ± as long as filament tube; stigma usually disciform. Capsule globose or pyriform, splitting into (3 or)4 or 5 segments, with 1 or 2 seeds per valve. Seeds arillate or not; hilum often large; cotyledons fleshy.

Insufficiently known species

The following two species are known only from inadequate material and need re-collecting to ascertain their identity.

Dysoxylum laxiracemosum C. Y. Wu & H. Li in H. Li, Fl. Yunnan. 1: 246. 1977.

总序 木 zong xu jian mu

Trees 10-12 m tall, to 35 cm d.b.h. Young branches brown when dry, with many longitudinal stripes, glabrous. Petiole and rachis 17-44 cm, glabrous; leaflets 9-13, alternate; petiolules 1-1.5 cm, glabrous; leaflet blades elliptic to oblong, (9-)18-22 × 5-8.5 cm, thickly papery, both surfaces glabrous, secondary veins 13 or 14 on each side of midvein, abaxially prominent and adaxially flat, base rounded to broadly cuneate, apex acuminate. Inflorescences axillary, racemose, ca. 30 cm, glabrous, branches sparse and 1-2 cm from base to apex, basal branches with 6 or 7 flowers but fewer on apical branches, only flowers on apical part of panicle developing into fruits. Flowers with 1 conical bracteole. Pedicel 2-3 mm, pubescent. Calyx shallowly cup-shaped, pubescent, 5-lobed, lobes broadly triangular. Corolla not seen. Mature infructescences ca. 34 cm. Fruit reddish yellow, oblate, ca. 3.5 × 4 cm, with sparse long appressed filamentous yellow trichomes when young but glabrescent at maturity. Seeds 2-4, with a red aril. Fl. Feb-Mar, fr. May.

● Dense ravine rain forests; 600-900 m. S Yunnan (Xishuangbanna).

Dysoxylum medogense C. Y. Wu & H. Li, Acta Phytotax. Sin. 18: 111. 1980.

墨脱 木 mo tuo jian mu

Trees to 30 m tall. Young branchlets brown; old branches ± shiny, with fawn-colored lenticels. Petiole and rachis 10-20 cm, puberulent; leaflets 5-9, opposite to subopposite; leaflet blades elliptic, ca. 5 × 2.5 cm for basal ones and ca. 15 × 5 cm for apical ones, papery, abaxially sparsely pubescent but midvein densely yellow pubescent, adaxially densely yellowish pubescent on midvein, secondary veins 8-15 on each side of midvein, base rounded to broadly cuneate, apex acute to caudate-acuminate. Flowers not seen. Infructescences axillary, racemose, 4-30 cm. Young fruit with hazel pubescence; fruit nearly globose, 2-2.5 × 3-3.5 cm, glabrous, 5-locular, with channels between locules, loculicidal, carpopodium 1-2 cm, calyx persistent, crenate. Seeds 1 per locule, with red aril.

● Broad-leaved forests, forest margins; 800-900 m. SE Xizang (Mêdog).

About 80 species: tropical Asia, tropical and subtropical Australia, Pacific islands; 11 species (one endemic) in China, with two insufficiently known species (not included in the key).

(Authors: Peng Hua (彭华); David J. Mabberley)