270 CHINESE ECONOMIC TREES 



Cornus macrophylla Wallich. 



Tree to 10 m. tall. Branches reddish-brown. Leaves broadly ovate to 

 elliptic-ovate, acuminate, dark green above, pale green, glaucous and 

 slightly appressed hairy below, with 5-8 pairs of lateral veins, 10-15 cm. 

 long; petiole slender. Inflorescence a loose, terminal, dichotomous cyme, 

 5-10 cm. across; flowers white on short peduncles, calyx urn-shaped, style 

 more or less enlarged toward the apex. The pedicels, calyx and the 

 outer surface of the petals are somewhat appressed silky hairy. Fruit a 

 blue-black drupe, about 8 mm. across. 



Himalayas to China and Japan. China: Yunnan, Szechuan, Hupeh, 

 and Shensi. 



EBENACEAE 



Trees or shrubs. Leaves alternate, rarely sub-opposite, entire. 

 Flowers regular, dioecious, rarely perfect; calyx 3-6 parted, persistent 

 and usually enlarged in the fruit. Corolla 3-6 lobed, hypogynous, 

 coriaceous. Stamens usually free from the corolla, as many as its lobes, 

 or twice as many or more numerous. Ovary superior, 2-16 celled ; ovules 



1 or 2 in each cell. Style 2-8. Seeds albuminous. 



Five genera and 280 species, in tropical and subtropical regions, 

 especially in the E. Hemisphere. The unisexual flowers and the superior 



2 to many celled ovary are distinctive characters. 



DIOSPYROS 



Deciduous or evergreen trees or shrubs. Leaves alternate, rarely 

 opposite, entire, without stipules. Flowers dioecious, rarely polygamous, 

 in axillary cymes, or solitary on the axils of the leaves of the year, or 

 lateral on older branches. Calyx usually 4 lobed, occasionally 3-7, 

 accrescent under the fruit. Corolla 3-7, usually 4 lobed, tubular or cup- 

 like, yellow or white. Stamens usually 16 (4 to indefinite). Ovary 4, 

 sometimes 8 celled. Style 1-4, free or united; stigma 2 lobed. Ovules 2 

 in each cell. Fruit a large juicy or pulpy berry, 1-10 seeded, the enlarged 

 calyx persistent at the base. Seeds oblong, compressed, blackish and 

 lustrous. 



About 160 species, most of them in the tropics. The wood is hard, 

 strong and close grained, with thin, pale sap wood and almost black 



