Bucklandia tonkinensis Lecomte, Bull. Mus. Hist. Nat. (Paris) 30: 392. 1924; Symingtonia tonkinensis (Lecomte) Steenis.

Trees to 30 m tall; young branches brown pubescent, glabrescent. Stipules narrowly oblong, 2–4 × 0.8–1.3 cm, puberulent; petiole 3–5 cm, glabrescent; leaf blade broadly ovate or sometimes palmately 3-lobed in young leaves, 8–13 × 5–9 cm, dark green, abaxially glabrous and tuberculate, adaxially shiny, base broadly cuneate, margin entire or palmately 3-lobed in young leaves, apex acuminate, palmately 3–5-veined. Inflorescences capitate, sometimes arranged in racemes; heads 7–9-flowered; peduncle 1–1.5 cm, brown tomentose. Petals absent. Stamens ca. 13, ca. 8 mm. Ovary yellow-brown pubescent; styles 4–5 mm. Capsules ovoid, 10–15 × 8–10 mm, tuberculate. Seeds 6, winged at lower part, 8–10 mm. Fl. May–Jul, fr. Aug–Sep.

This combination was first published by Steenis (Blumea 7: 595. 1954), but not validly, because the place of publication of the basionym, as required by the ICBN since 1953 (St. Louis Code, Art. 33.3), was not cited.

Slopes and valleys in evergreen forests; 800--1500 m. Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan, S Hunan, Jiangxi, SE Yunnan [Laos, N Vietnam].