Cratoxylum cochinchinense

Content

Description

Tree or shrub, to c. 30 m tall, deciduous, glabrous; bark smooth, pale or scaly, grey-brown; young shoots with interpetiolar scar continuous or interrupted. Leaves with petiole 2-5 mm, 3-10½ by 1-4 cm, elliptic to ovate-lanceolate or lanceolate, apex obtuse to acutely acuminate, base broadly cuneate to attenuate, herbaceous to chartaceous, nearly alwAays glaucous beneath. Inflorescence of 1-5-flowered axillary and usually terminal cymules; pedicels 1-2 mm. Flowers heterodistylous. Sepals 5-7 by 2-5 mm. Petals dark red to pink or orange, 5-10 by 2½-5 mm. Stamen fascicles 4-8 mm long, with stamens ± congested, c. 45-55 per fascicle; anther gland sometimes present. Staminodial fascicles (if developed) yellow, up to 3 mm long, flattened, oblong to obovate, cucullate. Ovary 2-3 mm long; styles 1-3 mm. Capsule 8-12 by 4-5 mm, c. 1-1½ times as long as sepals, ellipsoid-cylindric, with columella basal. Seeds (5-)6-8 per loculus, 6-8 by 2-3 mm, oblanceolate to elliptic or oblong.

Distribution

Asia-Temperate: Hainan (Hainan present), Asia-Tropical: Borneo present; Malaya present; Philippines (Philippines present); Sumatera (Sumatera present); Thailand (Thailand present), Burma present, Culion present, Hongkong present, Palawan present

Burma, China (south of 23°N), Hongkong, Hainan, Indo-China, Thailand, in Malesia: Sumatra, Malaya, Borneo, Philippines (Palawan, Culion). .

Notes

The variation in C. cochinchinense ranges between the following extremes:

'C. polyanthum var. wightiV (DYER). Shrub or small tree; bark rough, grey-brown; inter-petiolar scar usually interrupted. Leaves sometimes subopposite; lamina apex usually obtuse, base broadly to narrowly cuneate, seldom separating from midrib. Stamen fascicle stalks slender, over ⅓ of the total fascicle length (in flowers with staminode fascicles present).
'C. polyanthum var. ligustrinum' (DYER). Becoming large tree; bark smooth, pale; interpetiolar scar continuous. Leaves opposite; lamina apex acuminate, base attenuate, often slightly separating from midrib to produce minute appendages. Stamen fascicle stalks often compressed, short.

Citation

BURK. 1935: Dict.: 678

Bl. 1935 – In: Trans. Am. Phil. Soc.: 268

SPACH 1836: p. 352. – In: Ann. Sc. Nat.: t. 6

HUNDLEY & Ko Ko 1961: List Trees etc. Burma, ed. 3: 19

HOOK. & ARN. 1833: Bot. Beechey Voy.: 173

SMYTHIES 1965: Comm. Sarawak Trees: 69

Ridl. 1922 – In: Fl. Mal. Pen.: 152

BOERL. 1901: Cat. Hort. Bog.: 62

KORTH. 1910 – In: Fl. Gen. I.-C.: 290

SMYTHIES 1965: Comm. Sarawak Trees: 68

GAGNEP. 1909 – In: Not. Syst.: 19

King 1890 – In: J. As. Soc. Beng.: 145

GAMBLE 1915 – In: Fl. Pres. Madras: 71

CRAIB 1925 – In: Fl. Siam. En.: 112

Engl. 1925 – In: E. & P., Nat. Pfl. Fam., ed. 2, 21: 183

DYER 1874 – In: Fl. Br. Ind.: 257

Bl. 1852 – In: Mus. Bot. Lugd. Bat.: 16

Merr. 1923 – In: En. Philip.: 77

BURK. 1935: Dict.: 678

Corner 1939 – In: Gard. Bull. S. S.: 24

KURZ 1877 – In: Fl. Burma: 84

KURZ 1874 – In: J. As. Soc. Beng.: 85

Corner 1939 – In: Gard. Bull. S. S.: 26

Corner 1939 – In: Gard. Bull. S. S.: 29, 34

FORB. & HEMSL. 1886 – In: J. Linn. Soc. Bot.: 72

Corner 1939 – In: Gard. Bull. S. S.: 34