Trees to 20 m tall, evergreen, d.b.h. to 30 cm. Bark grayish brown, smooth, 5-6 mm thick; inner bark reddish brown, fragrant. Branchlets appressed ferruginous puberulent when young, glabrescent. Petiole 3-5 mm, puberulent or glabrous; leaf blade broadly ovate to elliptic, 4-9 × 2-3.5 cm, thickly papery, glabrous, adaxially shiny and green, secondary veins 7-10 on each side of midvein, slender, and prominent on both surfaces, base broadly cuneate to rounded, apex acute to shortly acuminate. Inflorescences leaf-opposed or subopposite, 2- or 3-flowered; peduncle subsessile; bracts broadly ovate. Pedicel 5-13 mm, pubescent, bracteolate at base. Sepals reniform, ca. 1 mm, outside pubescent, inside glabrous. Outer petals ovate to oblong-ovate, ca. 9 mm, pubescent, apex obtuse; inner petals smaller than outer petals, outside puberulent, inside glabrous or glabrescent. Stamens in 3 whorls; anther locules ovoid, ca. 1 mm; connectives apically acute. Carpels 3-5, densely pubescent; ovules 10-12 per carpel, in 2 series. Fruiting carpels yellowish green, subglobose to obovate, ca. 4 × 3-4 cm, densely tomentose. Seeds flat, semiorbicular. Fl. Oct-Mar, fr. Mar-Aug.

The fruit of Alphonsea hainanensis are edible when ripe. Its wood is hard and used for the construction of carts and agricultural implements, etc.

Alphonsea hainanensis is listed as Endangered (EN A2c) by the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (Version 2010.3; http://www. iucnredlist.org; accessed on 8 Oct 2010).

● Evergreen broad-leaved forests on slopes; 400-700 m. SW Guangxi, Hainan, Yunnan.