NYSSACEAE 261 



inflorescence many flowered; petals narrow-oblong; stamens 5-10. 

 Pistillate few, on slender stalks; ovary glabrous. Fruit short pedicelled j 

 in clusters of 2 or 3, on long, ascending peduncles, 2-5 cm. long. The 

 flesh is thin. Stone ridged. 



Hupeh and Kiangsi. Common along water courses near Kuling in 

 Kiangsi, elsewhere said to be rare. 



DAVIDIA 



Deciduous trees. Leaves alternate, coarsely dentate, slender peti- 

 oled and without stipules. Inflorescence polygamous, in a terminal, 

 subglobose head, pendulous on a long peduncle, more or less concealed 

 by overhanging bracts. The bracts are usually 2 in number, rarely 3, 

 large, conspicuous, unequal in size, sessile, leafy, creamy- white, thin 

 and membranous, entire or remotely serrate, rounded or cordate at the 

 base, deciduous. The flowering head composed of a. single perfect 

 flower entirely surrounded by numerous staminate flowers, or consists 

 entirely of staminate flowers. Staminate flowers achlamydeous, the 

 perianth reduced to a swollen ring; stamens 1-7, filaments filiform, 

 anthers purple. The perfect flowers are naked, subsessile, obliquely 

 attached to the head; stamens shortly epigynous, attached to the base of 

 the thickened style on top of the ovary ; stigmas spreading-, as many as 

 the cells; ovary inferior, 6-10 celled, 1 ovule in each cell. Fruit a drupe; 

 flesh thin; stone 3-5 celled. 



A genus containing a single species, native of China. 



Davidia involucrata Baillon. 



Tree 18 m. tall. Leaves bright green, ovate or ovate-cordate, 

 acuminate, coarsely serrate with glandular teeth, prominently veined, 

 more or less pubescent below, 6-13 cm. long and 5-8 cm. wide. Petiole 

 2.5-10 cm. long. The larger bract sometimes 15 cm. long. Inflorescence 

 about 3 cm. across; peduncle of fruit about 10 cm. long. Fruit 4 cm. 

 long, oblong-ovoid, greenish-yellow, marked by reddish-brown spots; 

 epicarp thin ; stone hard, bony, deeply grooved and channeled. 



Var. vilmoriniana Dode. 



A glabrous form of the above. 

 Hupeh and Szechuan. 



