EUCOMMIACEAE. 



Determined by E. H. Wilson. 



EUCOMMIA Oliv. 



Eucommia ulmoides Oliver in Hooker's Icon. XX. t. 1950 (1890) ; 

 XXIV. t. 2361 (1895). — Weis in Trans. Linn. Soc. ser. 2, III. 243, t. 

 57, 58 (1892). — Diels in Bot. Jahrb. XXIX. 346 (1900).— Kew 

 Bull. Misc. Inform. XIV. 89 (1901); XVII. 4 fig. (1904). — Schneider, 

 III. Handb. Lauhholzk. I. 424, fig. 270 (1904). — Finet & Gagnepain 

 in Bull. Soc. Bot. France, LII. Mem. IV. 23 (1905) ; Contrib. Fl. As, 

 Or. II. 23 (1907). — Mottet in Rev. Hort. 1909, 226, fig. 89, 90. — 

 Pampanini in Nuov. Giorn. Bot. Ital. n. ser. XVIII. 114 (1911). — 

 Rehcler in Holler's Deutsch. Gdrtn.-Zeit. XXVII. 11, fig. (1912). 



Western Hupeh: Patung Hsien, cultivated, alt. 600-1600 m.., 

 April 1907 (No. 383, in part; tree 5-20 m. tall, 0.3-1.5 m. girth); 

 Changyang Hsien, commonly cultivated, alt. 600-1500 m.. May and 

 October 1907 (No. 383, in part; tree 6-20 m. tall); north and south of 

 Ichang, commonly cultivated, alt. 600-1600 m., June and October 

 1907 (No. 383, in part; tree 6-20 m. tall, 0.3-1.5 m. girth); Hsing- 

 shan Hsien, cultivated. May 1907 (No. 383, in part; tree 6-20 m. tall); 

 Fang Hsien, commonly cultivated, alt. 1300-1600 m., October 1907 

 (No. 383; tree 10-20 m. tall); without precise locality, cultivated, 

 October 1910 (No. 383'*); without locality, April and July 1900 (Veitch 

 Exped. No. 629); Ichang, A. Aldridge. 



This interesting tree grows to a moderate size and is commonly cultivated in 

 western Hupeh and Szech'uan, occurring two or three together in the neighbor- 

 hood houses, between alt. 300-2500 m. It is dioecious and the peasants raise it 

 from seeds or by coppicing. The bark, known as Tu-chung or Tsze-mien = silk 

 thread, is a valuable Chinese drug, esteemed for various hepatic diseases, and as 

 a diuretic, tonic and aphrodisiac. The removal of the bark causes the death of 

 the tree, which probably accounts for it being so far unreported in a wild state. 



Pictures of this tree will be found under Nos. 535, 676, 6S2, 068, and 0185, 0358 of 

 my collection of photographs and also in my Vegetation 0/ Western China, Noa. 213 

 and 214. 



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