Sterculia lanceifolia Roxb., Fl. Ind., ed. 1832 3: 150¨C151 (1832)

Name meaning 'lance shaped leaves'.

Synonyms
Sterculia roxburghii Wall.

Description
Trees or shrubs; bark gray. Branchlets puberulent. Stipules subulate, minutely hairy, caducous; petiole 2.5-3.5 cm, both ends pulvinate; leaf blade lanceolate, linear-lanceolate, or oblong-lanceolate, 10-23 x 2.5-7.5 cm, minutely pilose, becoming glabrous, lateral veins 9-10 on each side of midrib, slightly connected near margin, base rounded or obtuse, apex obtusely acuminate. Inflorescence racemose, or rarely paniculate, axillary, 5-7 cm, much shorter than leaves, laxly few-flowered, stellate pilose. Pedicel slender, 5-8 mm. Calyx red, campanulate, divided nearly to base, ca. 7 mm, abaxially sparsely pu-berulent, lobes oblong-lanceolate, ca. 5 mm, much longer than calyx tube, spreading outward. Male flowers: androgynophore curved, glabrous. Female flowers: ovary globose, densely puberulent. Follicle oblong or oblong-lanceolate, ca. 7 cm, 4-8-seeded, abaxially densely red hirsute, apex beaked. Seeds black, ovoid. [from Flora of China]

Ecology
Forested slopes; up to 2000 m elevation.

Distribution
From NE India and Bangladesh via Burma into southern China.

Local names
China: Xi shu ping po.