Vasilis Teodoridis:
Euphorbiaceae | Bridelia
7. Bridelia balansae Tutcher; J. Linn. Soc.; Bot. 37: 66. 1905.
??? he chuan shu
Trees up to 17 m tall; ca. 30 cm in d.b.h.; monoecious; bark fulvous; nearly smooth; branchlets glabrous with elevated lenticels. Stipules linear-lanceolate; 2-3 mm; yellowish or brownish puberulent; petiole 3-8 mm; leaf blade elliptic or elliptic-lanceolate; 5-15 x 1.5-5.5 cm; leathery or nearly so; abaxially glabrous or only puberulent; adaxially glossy when dried; base cuneate; rarely obtuse; margin slightly revolute; apex acute; acuminate; or caudate-acuminate; lateral veins (5-)8-11(or 12) pairs. Glomerules axillary; up to 12-flowered; glabrous except for yellowish pubescent sepals and petals. Male flowers 3-4 mm in diam.; pedicel up to 2 mm; sepals triangular; 1.5-2 x 1.2-2 mm; petals elliptic to spatulate; 0.3-0.5 mm; disk shallowly cup-shaped; 2-3 mm in diam.; staminal column ca. 1 mm; free filaments ca. 1 mm; anthers ovoid; 0.6-0.8 x 0.4-0.5 mm; rudimentary ovary ovoid-conical. Female flowers 4-5 mm in diam.; pedicels ca. 1 mm; sepals as in male; petals rhomboid-rounded; ca. 1 mm; disk urceolate ca. 1 mm enclosing ovary; lacerate when ovary expands; ovary globose to ovoid; styles 2; free; ca. 1.5 mm; bifid; lobes linear. Fruiting pedicel very stout; up to 3 mm; drupes oblong-ovoid; 8-12 x 5-8 mm; purple-black when mature; 1-celled. Seeds ellipsoid with deep lateral groove; 6-8 x 4-5 mm; brownish; smooth. Fl. May-Aug; fr. Sep-Nov.
Montane dense or sparse forests; 200-1000 m. Fujian; Guangdong; Guangxi; Guizhou; Hainan; Sichuan; Taiwan; Yunnan [Japan (Ryukyu Islands); Laos; Vietnam].
Bridelia balansae has often been misidentified in Chinese floras as B. insulana Hance; which occurs from S Myanmar and S Thailand southward.
Collections from Yunnan tend to have wider and more chartaceous leaves and often more flowers per glomerule. Thus they intergrade morphologically with Bridelia glauca; which has many conspicuously pedicelled flowers and a more truncate leaf base; but is rarely collected in China.
The name Bridelia pachinensis Hayata belongs here but was never validly published.
Zhang and Qiu (Guihaia 19(3): 195. 1999) reported first records of Bridelia harmandii Gagnepain from China (Hainan). The second author (Dressler) has seen one of their cited vouchers (S. K. Lau 4920; A!; E!) which is B. tomentosa. Nevertheless; the species might occur in China given that it grows in nearby Indochina and Thailand. It resembles a small-leaved B. stipularis but differs by the much smaller flowers and being a small decumbent shrub; it also resembles a broad-leaved B. tomentosa but has stiffer; more leathery leaves; a strong indumentum in most parts; persistent subulate stipules; and fewer flowers per glomerule (see Dressler; Blumea 41: 281. 1996).
Vasilis Teodoridis:
Euphorbiaceae | Bridelia
7. Bridelia balansae Tutcher; J. Linn. Soc.; Bot. 37: 66. 1905.
??? he chuan shu
Trees up to 17 m tall; ca. 30 cm in d.b.h.; monoecious; bark fulvous; nearly smooth; branchlets glabrous with elevated lenticels. Stipules linear-lanceolate; 2-3 mm; yellowish or brownish puberulent; petiole 3-8 mm; leaf blade elliptic or elliptic-lanceolate; 5-15 x 1.5-5.5 cm; leathery or nearly so; abaxially glabrous or only puberulent; adaxially glossy when dried; base cuneate; rarely obtuse; margin slightly revolute; apex acute; acuminate; or caudate-acuminate; lateral veins (5-)8-11(or 12) pairs. Glomerules axillary; up to 12-flowered; glabrous except for yellowish pubescent sepals and petals. Male flowers 3-4 mm in diam.; pedicel up to 2 mm; sepals triangular; 1.5-2 x 1.2-2 mm; petals elliptic to spatulate; 0.3-0.5 mm; disk shallowly cup-shaped; 2-3 mm in diam.; staminal column ca. 1 mm; free filaments ca. 1 mm; anthers ovoid; 0.6-0.8 x 0.4-0.5 mm; rudimentary ovary ovoid-conical. Female flowers 4-5 mm in diam.; pedicels ca. 1 mm; sepals as in male; petals rhomboid-rounded; ca. 1 mm; disk urceolate ca. 1 mm enclosing ovary; lacerate when ovary expands; ovary globose to ovoid; styles 2; free; ca. 1.5 mm; bifid; lobes linear. Fruiting pedicel very stout; up to 3 mm; drupes oblong-ovoid; 8-12 x 5-8 mm; purple-black when mature; 1-celled. Seeds ellipsoid with deep lateral groove; 6-8 x 4-5 mm; brownish; smooth. Fl. May-Aug; fr. Sep-Nov.
Montane dense or sparse forests; 200-1000 m. Fujian; Guangdong; Guangxi; Guizhou; Hainan; Sichuan; Taiwan; Yunnan [Japan (Ryukyu Islands); Laos; Vietnam].
Bridelia balansae has often been misidentified in Chinese floras as B. insulana Hance; which occurs from S Myanmar and S Thailand southward.
Collections from Yunnan tend to have wider and more chartaceous leaves and often more flowers per glomerule. Thus they intergrade morphologically with Bridelia glauca; which has many conspicuously pedicelled flowers and a more truncate leaf base; but is rarely collected in China.
The name Bridelia pachinensis Hayata belongs here but was never validly published.
Zhang and Qiu (Guihaia 19(3): 195. 1999) reported first records of Bridelia harmandii Gagnepain from China (Hainan). The second author (Dressler) has seen one of their cited vouchers (S. K. Lau 4920; A!; E!) which is B. tomentosa. Nevertheless; the species might occur in China given that it grows in nearby Indochina and Thailand. It resembles a small-leaved B. stipularis but differs by the much smaller flowers and being a small decumbent shrub; it also resembles a broad-leaved B. tomentosa but has stiffer; more leathery leaves; a strong indumentum in most parts; persistent subulate stipules; and fewer flowers per glomerule (see Dressler; Blumea 41: 281. 1996).