Sloanea hemsleyana (Ito) Rehder & E. H. Wilson

Trees to 25 m tall; terminal buds yellow-brown puberulent. Branches dark brown when dry, lenticels present; branchlets glabrous. Leaves fascicled at twig apices; petiole 1-2.5(-3.5) cm, glabrous; leaf blade variable, usually narrowly obovate or oblanceolate, rarely ovate, 10-15(-20) × 3-5(-7) cm, thinly leathery, glabrous, abaxially rarely pubescent in vein axils only, lateral veins 7-9 per side, base narrow and obtuse, rarely slightly cordate, margin irregularly crenulate, apex acute or acuminate. Flowers terminal in raceme; peduncle and pedicels puberulent. Sepals 4, ovate, 6-7 mm, both surfaces puberulent. Petals white, both surfaces puberulent, ca. as long as sepals or slightly longer, 6- or 7-incised at apices. Stamens ca. 92, ca. as long as petals; filaments 1-2.5 mm, puberulent; anthers ca. 5 mm, puberulent, awn 1-2 mm. Ovary brown tomentose; style extending beyond stamens, 5-6 mm. Disk cushion-shaped. Capsule variable in size, (3 or)4- or 5(or 6)-valved; valves 2.5-5 cm, 3-5 mm thick; endocarp purple-red or yellow-brown; prickles 1-2 cm; stipe of capsule 2.5-6 cm, usually robust. Seeds black-brown, shiny, 1.2-1.5 cm, lower 1/2 enclosed by yellow aril. Fl. Jul, fr. unknown.

Guangxi, Guizhou, Hubei, Hunan, Sichuan, Yunnan.

● Evergreen forests; 1100-1400 m.

Echinocarpus hemsleyanus T. Itô, J. Coll. Sci. Imp. Univ. Tokyo 12: 349. 1899; Sloanea chengfengensis Hu; S. hanceana Hemsley; S. hemsleyana var. yunnanica Coode.