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''Daphniphyllum calycinum'' is a species of shrubby plant in the family Daphniphyllaceae. It is found in northern Vietnam and southeastern
China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...
. It is used in biodiesel and in lubrication, soap-making and Chinese medicine.


Taxonomy

The species is in section ''Lunata'' of ''Daphniphyllum'', along with '' D. griffithianum'' and '' D. majus''. " e premier systematic botanist of the nineteenth century",
George Bentham George Bentham (22 September 1800 – 10 September 1884) was an English botanist, described by the weed botanist Duane Isely as "the premier systematic botanist of the nineteenth century". Born into a distinguished family, he initially studie ...
(1800–84), English, described this plant in 1861 in his publication ''Flora Hongkongensis; a description of the flowering plants and ferns of the island of Hongkong''


Description

This species grows as a shrub some 1-5-4m tall. The grayish-brown
branch A branch, also called a ramus in botany, is a stem that grows off from another stem, or when structures like veins in leaves are divided into smaller veins. History and etymology In Old English, there are numerous words for branch, includ ...
es are sparsely lenticillate. The petioles are some 4 to 8 cm long. The obovate to obovate-elliptic
leaf A leaf (: leaves) is a principal appendage of the plant stem, stem of a vascular plant, usually borne laterally above ground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", while the leav ...
blades are 12–16 by 4–9 cm in size, they are chartaceous, glaucous/hairy and are inconspicuously papillate on lower surface; broadly cuneate leaf base, slightly reflexed margins and obtuse to rounded apex, mucronate; 8-11 pairs of later veins are visible on upper surface, prominent on lower. Male flowers have an 8–10 cm pedicel and a discoid calyx with 3 or 4 broadly triangular lobes, 9 or 10 stamens some 3 mm long with very short filaments, oblong laterally-compressed anthers, connective exserted. Female flowers have a 5–6 mm pedicel, broadly-triangular calyx-loves about 1.5mm in size, ellipsoidal ovary 1.5–2 mm in size, very short style, 2 recurved stigmas. The
Infructescence In botany, infructescence (fruiting head) is defined as the ensemble of fruits derived from the ovaries of an inflorescence. It usually retains the size and structure of the inflorescence. In some cases, infructescences are similar in appearance ...
/fruiting head is some 4–5 cm in size, densely arranged with ovoid-ellipsoidal, tubercalate, glaucous drupes some 7 by 4 mm in size, with persistent calyx and style branches. Flowering occurs from April to June, while fruiting is from August to November. Distinguishing characteristics of this species are: the size (9–16 by 4–9 cm) and shape (obovate to obovate-elliptic) of the leaf blade, the obtuse to rounded apex; and size (about 7 mm), dense arrangement and glaucousness of the fruit.


Distribution

The plant is native to an area from northern Vietnam to southeastern China (
Fujian Fujian is a provinces of China, province in East China, southeastern China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, Guangdong to the south, and the Taiwan Strait to the east. Its capital is Fuzhou and its largest prefe ...
,
Guangdong ) means "wide" or "vast", and has been associated with the region since the creation of Guang Prefecture in AD 226. The name "''Guang''" ultimately came from Guangxin ( zh, labels=no, first=t, t= , s=广信), an outpost established in Han dynasty ...
,
Guangxi Guangxi,; officially the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of the China, People's Republic of China, located in South China and bordering Vietnam (Hà Giang Province, Hà Giang, Cao Bằn ...
,
Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...
, south
Hunan Hunan is an inland Provinces of China, province in Central China. Located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze watershed, it borders the Administrative divisions of China, province-level divisions of Hubei to the north, Jiangxi to the east, Gu ...
, south
Jiangxi ; Gan: ) , translit_lang1_type2 = , translit_lang1_info2 = , translit_lang1_type3 = , translit_lang1_info3 = , image_map = Jiangxi in China (+all claims hatched).svg , mapsize = 275px , map_caption = Location ...
).


Habitat and ecology

The shrub grows in forests and thickets at altitudes of occasionally below 100m but mainly 200-700m. ''Daphniphyllum calycinum'' is present on the degraded hillside shrublands of Hong Kong, it is common there in scrubland and forest edges. Birds disperse the dry-season fruiting seeds. The follicular micromycete, or sac-fungi, '' Mycosphaerella fasciculata'', in the Mycosphaerellaceae family, uses this species as a host.


Conservation

The species is listed as "least concern".


Vernacular names

*''vai lá xoan ngược'' is a name used in Vietnam. *牛耳枫, ''niu er feng'', or ''niu-er-fon'', is a name used in China


Uses

The seeds provide abundant oil that was used in lubrication and to make refined soap, however recently because of its toxicity it is only used in biodiesel. Roots and leaves are used within Chinese medicine. The plant has many alkaloids and other active ingredients, see for example Wu ''et al''., 2013.


References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15239178 calycinum Flora of Fujian Flora of Guangdong Flora of Guangxi Flora of Hong Kong Flora of Hunan Flora of Jiangxi Flora of Vietnam Plants described in 1861 Taxa named by George Bentham