Vasilis Teodoridis:
Lauraceae | Cryptocarya
18. Cryptocarya chingii W. C. Cheng; Contr. Biol. Lab. Sci. Soc. China; Bot. Ser. 10: 111. 1936.
??? ying ke gui
Cryptocarya laui Merrill & F. P. Metcalf; C. merrilliana C. K. Allen.
Small trees; up to 12 m tall; to 20 cm d.b.h. Old branchlets gray-brown; glabrous; sparsely oblong-lenticellate; striate; young branchlets densely gray-yellow pubescent. Leaves alternate; petiole 5-10 mm; concave-convex; densely gray-yellow pubescent when young; leaf blade glaucous green and opaque abaxially; olive-green and opaque or shiny adaxially; oblong; elliptic-oblong; very rarely obovate; 6-13 x 2.5-5 cm; leathery; gray-yellow appressed sericeous-pubescent on both surfaces; hairs slightly longer along midrib and lateral veins abaxially; midrib very elevated abaxially; impressed adaxially; lateral veins 5 or 6 pairs; conspicuous abaxially; slightly impressed adaxially; slightly arcuate and evanescent within leaf margin; transverse veins and veinlets reticulate; ± conspicuous abaxially; inconspicuous adaxially; base cuneate; apex abruptly acuminate; sometimes obtuse or emarginate. Panicles axillary and terminal; (3-)3.5-6 cm; ± lax; densely gray-yellow sericeous-pubescent on all parts; peduncles 2-3 mm. Perianth densely sericeous-pubescent outside but sparsely so inside; perianth tube turbinate; ca. 1.5 mm; perianth lobes ovate; ca. 1.5 mm; acute. Fertile stamens 9; less than 1.5 mm; filaments as long as anthers; those of 3rd whorl each with 2 stalked glands at base; others glandless; anthers 2-celled; cells of 1st and 2nd whorls introrse; those of 3rd whorl extrorse. Staminodes narrowly sagittate-triangular; stalked. Ovary clavate; including filiform style ca. 1.5 mm; stigma inconspicuous. Fruit greenish when young and dirty red when mature; ellipsoid; ca. 17 x 10 mm; glabrous; 12-angulate. Fl. Jun-Oct; fr. Sep-Mar of next year.
Evergreen broad-leaved forests; 300-800 m (but higher in Hainan). Fujian; Guangdong; Guangxi; Hainan; Jiangxi; Zhejiang [N Vietnam].
The wood is heavy and durable and is used for making furniture. A viscid liquid extracted from wood pieces in water is used to paste hairs together. The leafy branchlets contain essential oil.