Vasilis Teodoridis:
Sapindaceae | Dodonaea
1. Dodonaea viscosa Jacquin; Enum. Syst. Pl. 19. 1760.
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Ptelea viscosa Linnaeus; Sp. Pl. 1: 118. 1753.
Shrubs or small trees; 1-3 m tall or higher. Branches flat; narrowly winged or ridged; with sticky juice. Leaves simple; petiole short or subsessile; blades variable in shape and size; linear; linear-spoon-shaped; linear-lanceolate; or oblong; 5-12 x 0.5-4 cm; papery; both surfaces with sticky juice; glabrous; nitid when dry; lateral veins many; dense; very slender; margin entire or inconspicuously shallowly wavy; apex acute; obtuse; or rounded. Inflorescences terminal or axillary near apices; shorter than leaves; densely flowered; rachis and branches ridged. Pedicels 2-5 mm; sometimes to 1 cm; slender. Sepals 4; lanceolate or narrowly elliptic; ca. 3 mm; apex obtuse. Stamens 7 or 8; filaments less than 1 mm; anthers incurved; ca. 2.5 mm; glandular. Ovary ellipsoid; abaxially with sticky juice; 2- or 3-loculed; style ca. 6 mm; apex 2- or 3-lobed. Capsules obcordiform or compressed-globose; 2- or 3-winged; 1.5-2.2 cm tall; with wing 1.8-2.5 cm wide; testa membranous or papery; veined. Seeds 1 or 2 per locule; black; lenslike. Fl. late autumn; fr. late autumn-early spring. 2n = 28.
Forest margins; savannahs; coastal vegetation on or behind sandy beaches. Fujian; Guangdong; Guangxi; Hainan; Sichuan; Taiwan; Yunnan [widely distributed in tropical and subtropical regions].
Two forms of this species are often recognized; one coastal and the other at higher elevations.