Vasilis Teodoridis:
Euphorbiaceae | Vernicia
1. Vernicia fordii (Hemsley) Airy Shaw; Kew Bull. 20: 394. 1966.
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Aleurites fordii Hemsley; Hooker’s Icon. Pl. 29: t. 2801; 2802. 1906.
Trees deciduous; up to 10 m tall; monoecious; bark gray; nearly smooth; branches verticillate; stout; glabrous; prominently lenticellate. Petiole as long as leaf blade; glabrescent; with 2 compressed and sessile glands; leaf blade ovate; 5-18 x 3-15 cm; puberulent when young; dark green and glabrous adaxially; gray-green and pubescent abaxially at maturity; base truncate to shallowly cordate; margin entire; rarely shallowly 1-3-fid; apex acute; palmate veins 5(-7). Inflorescences flat-topped panicles of cymes; appearing generally before new leaves; usually bisexual; calyx ca. 10 mm; 2(or 3)-fid; densely brown puberulent outside; petals obovate; 2-3 x 1-1.5 cm; yellow at base; pink to purplish; pink-veined; base clawed; apex rounded; stamens 8-12; outer filaments free; inner filaments connate to below middle; ovary 3-5(-8)-locular; pubescent; styles 3-5(-8); bifid. Drupe subglobose; 4-6(-8) cm in diam.; exocarp smooth; not grooved; 3- or 4(-8)-seeded. Seed coat woody. Fl. Mar-Apr; fr. Aug-Nov.
Open forests; 200-1500(-2000) m. Anhui; Fujian; Guangdong; Guangxi; Guizhou; Hainan; Henan; Hubei; Hunan; Jiangsu; Jiangxi; Shaanxi; Sichuan; Yunnan; Zhejiang [Vietnam; cultivated in the Old and New Worlds].
This species is usually cultivated on slopes below 800 m.