Micheliopsis H. Keng.

Trees, evergreen, glabrous, hermaphrodite or andro-dioecious. Twigs densely noded and bamboo nodelike; terminal vegetative buds dehiscing into 2 valves. Stipules not adnate to petiole. Leaves when young not folded and surrounded by young vegetative buds in bud; petiole without a stipular scar; leaf blade margin entire, bony, semitransparent, decurrent on petiole. Flowers terminal, solitary. Spathaceous bract 1, just basal to tepals. Tepals 9-12; outer 3 tepals nearly leathery and striated; tepals of inner 2 or 3 whorls subequal but gradually smaller inward, fleshy. Male flower: stamens 10-75, inserted on cylindric torus; filaments short; connective exserted and forming a mucro; anthers filiform, thecae divergent, dehiscing introrsely; torus deciduous from peduncle after anthesis. Bisexual flower: stamens as in male flowers but fewer; gynophore conspicuous; carpels 10-20, connate when developed; ovules 2 per carpel. Fruit ellipsoid or obovoid, shape varied because of carpels partly undeveloped; fruiting stalks short, not elongated; mature carpels woody, dehiscing along dorsal sutures and apex. Seeds 1 or 2 per carpel, pendulous on a filiform elastic false ovule stalk; testa red or yellow; endotesta bony, with an apical hole.

Five species: China, N Myanmar; five species (three endemic) in China.