STERCULIACEAE 249 



Suitable for street planting in warm temperate regions. The fleshy 

 seed coat is edible; the slightly acrid, oily seeds are sometimes used to 

 season food. 



Sterculia platanifolia has now been placed under Firmiana. A 

 description of this tree follows: 



Firmiana simplex (L.) W. F. Wight. 



(Hibiscus simplex Linnseus.) 

 (Firmiana planlanifolia Britain.) 

 (Sterculia platanifolia Linnaeus fils.) 

 Wu Tung. Phoenix Tree. 



Round headed, slender tree up to 16 m. tall with smooth, gray-green 

 bark. Leaves deciduous, large, 3-5 lobed, maple-like, cordate at the base, 

 glabrous or tomentose, averaging 16-20 cm. long; petiole nearly as long 

 as the blade. Flowers small, yellowish green in terminal panicles. Fruit 

 a follicle, 3-10 cm. long, pointed, composed of 4-5 carpels bearing 3-4 

 globular, pea-like seeds, on the edge near the base. Widely planted. 



Hupeh, Shantung to Formosa. 



This is the Phoenix Tree of legendary interest. It makes an admirable 

 street tree. The bark yields a fiber obtained by retting. According to 

 Hosie the wood is used for making furniture in Szechuan. The fruit 

 contains a dark colored fluid which is liberated when the follicle opens. 



REEVESIA 



Shrubs or trees. Leaves simple. Flowers perfect, numerous, white, 

 in terminal panicled cymes ; calyx 5 parted, campanulate or funnel- 

 shaped ; petals 5, clawed, deciduous ; anthers in a globose head on top 

 of the elongated, staminal column; ovary 5 lobed, 5 celled; ovules 2 in 

 each cell. Fruit a capsule, 5 valved; seeds 1-2, winged. 



About 2 species in Eastern Asia. 



Reevesia pubescence Masters. 



Tree to 15 m. tall. Leaves 10-13 cm. long, 5-6.5 cm. wide, subcor- 

 iaceous, pubescent beneath, oblong, acuminate, cordate at base. Flowers 

 numerous; petals pink, longer than the calyx. Fruit woody, obconical, 

 (top-shaped), 4-5 cm. long, 2.5 cm. wide at the depressed apex. 



India and S. W. China. 



