Edgeworthia papyrifera Siebold & Zuccarini; E. tomentosa (Thunberg) Nakai, comb. rej.; Magnolia tomentosa Thunberg, nom. utique rej.

Shrubs to 0.7-1.5 m tall, deciduous, branching usually trichotomous. Branchlets brown, strong, stout, usually pubescent when young. Leaves falling before anthesis; leaf blade oblong, lanceolate, or oblanceolate, 8-20 × 2.5-5.5 cm, both surfaces whitish gray sericeous, more densely so abaxially, base gradually narrowed, cuneate, apex apiculate; lateral veins 10-13 pairs, slender, curved, pubescent. Inflorescences terminal and axillary, capitate, 30-50-flowered; peduncle 1-2 cm, grayish white hirsute; bracts ca. 10, pilose. Flowers fragrant. Calyx yellow inside, 13-20 × 4-5 mm; tube exterior densely white sericeous; lobes 4, ovate-lanceolate, ca. 3.5 × 3 mm. Anthers subovoid, ca. 2 mm. Disk shallowly cup-shaped, margin irregular. Ovary ovoid, ca. 4 × 2 mm, apex sericeous; style glabrous, ca. 2 mm; stigma globose, ca. 3 mm. Drupe ellipsoid, ca. 8 × 3.5 mm, apex pubescent. Fl. late winter and early spring, fr. spring-summer. 2n = 36*.

The name Edgeworthia chrysantha was published a few weeks earlier in 1846 than E. papyrifera and therefore has priority. The oldest name, Magnolia tomentosa , was never generally taken up and was formally rejected to protect E. papyrifera. This means that Nakai’s E. tomentosa is also rejected. "Daphne papyrifera" is not a validly pub lished name: D. Don (Prodr. Fl. Nepal.: 68. 1825) merely cited "D. papyrifera Buchanan-Hamilton" as a synonym of D. odora; later, Siebold (Verh. Batav. Genootsch. Kunsten 12: 22. 1830) commented on the value of "D. papyrifera" for paper-making, referring to E. chrysantha as currently understood, but this is not acceptable as a validating description or diagnosis (see Art. 32.3 of the Vienna Code).

● Forests, shrubby slopes, also cultivated. Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Henan, Hunan, Jiangxi, Yunnan, Zhejiang [cultivated and naturalized in Japan].