Occurring as a shrub or as a

tree In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, including only woody plants with secondary growth, plants that are ...

, ''Daphniphyllum majus'' is a species in the family

Daphniphyllaceae ''Daphniphyllum'' is the sole genus in the flowering plant family Daphniphyllaceae and was described as a genus in 1826. The genus includes evergreen shrubs and trees mainly native to east and southeast Asia, but also found in the Indian Subconti ...

. It is found in Mainland Southeast Asia and

Yunnan Yunnan , () is a landlocked province in the southwest of the People's Republic of China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 48.3 million (as of 2018). The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders the ...

in Zhōngguó/China. Uses of the plant include fuel and

smoking Smoking is a practice in which a substance is burned and the resulting smoke is typically breathed in to be tasted and absorbed into the bloodstream. Most commonly, the substance used is the dried leaves of the tobacco plant, which have bee ...

-material.

Taxonomy

The species is in section Lunata of ''Daphniphyllum'', along with '' D. calycinum'' and '' D. griffithianum''. This species has 4 accepted infraspecific varieties: *''Daphniphyllum majus'' var. ''deciduum'' T.C.Huang *''Daphniphyllum majus'' var. ''majus'' *''Daphniphyllum majus'' var. ''phanrangense'' (Gagnep.) T.C.Huang *''Daphniphyllum majus'' var. ''pierrei'' (Hance) T.C.Huang

Description

''Daphniphyllum majus'' grow from 2m to 10m tall. Its grayish-brown branchlets are stout and densely covered in

lenticels A lenticel is a porous tissue consisting of cells with large intercellular spaces in the periderm of the secondarily thickened organs and the bark of woody stems and roots of dicotyledonous flowering plants. It functions as a pore, providing a ...

. The leaf blade is green when dry, glaucous below, oblong-elliptic or obovate-oblong in shape, (16-)20-37 × 7-14 cm, apex acuminate, reticulate veins are prominent on both surfaces. Along with some others species of the genus, ''D. majus'' has loosely arranged conical to round

palisade cells A palisade, sometimes called a stakewall or a paling, is typically a fence or defensive wall made from iron or wooden stakes, or tree trunks, and used as a defensive structure or enclosure. Palisades can form a stockade. Etymology ''Palisade' ...

in its leaves. The species also has small (20 microns) irregular

epidermal The epidermis is the outermost of the three layers that comprise the skin, the inner layers being the dermis and hypodermis. The epidermis layer provides a barrier to infection from environmental pathogens and regulates the amount of water rele ...

guard cells on the adaxial ("top") side of the leaf and bigger (24 microns) dome-shaped epidermal/guard cells on the abaxial side along with leaf stomata that are hemiparacytic (traits only shared with ''D. calycinum''). The

calyx Calyx or calyce (plural "calyces"), from the Latin ''calix'' which itself comes from the Ancient Greek ''κάλυξ'' (''kálux'') meaning "husk" or "pod", may refer to: Biology * Calyx (anatomy), collective name for several cup-like structures ...

is persistent, 2-3mm in size. The fruit 10-15 mm, not glaucous, loosely arranged. The plant flowers in Zhōngguó/China in March and April, fruiting from October to December. Var. ''pierrei'' is a tall shrub, growing 1 to 6m tall.

Distribution

The species overall is native to

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is b ...

Cambodia Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia, spanning an area of , bordered by Thailan ...

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making it ...

, southern

(where it is found in

Jinghong Jinghong (; khb, ᨩ᩠ᨿᨦᩁᩩ᩵ᨦ; th, เชียงรุ่ง, , ; lo, ຊຽງຮຸ່ງ; also formerly romanised as ''Chiang Hung'', ''Chengrung'', ''Cheng Hung'', Jeng Hung, ''Jinghung'', ''Keng Hung'', ''Kiang Hung'' and ' ...

Maguan Maguan County (, vi, Mã Quan) is located in Wenshan Zhuang and Miao Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan province, China, bordering Vietnam's Lào Cai Lào Cai () is a city in the Northwest region of Vietnam. It is the capital of Lào Cai Provin ...

Malipo Malipo County (, vi, Ma Lật Pha) is under the administration of the Wenshan Zhuang and Miao Autonomous Prefecture, in the southeast of Yunnan province, China, bordering Ha Giang Province to the southeast. Administrative divisions In the prese ...

Menghai Menghai County (; Tai Lu: ᨾᩮᩨ᩠ᨦᩁᩣ᩠ᨿ ''Meng Haai'' lo, ເມືອງຮາຍ) is a County (People's Republic of China), county under the jurisdiction of Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture, in the far south of Yunnan, Chin ...

, and

Pingbian Pingbian Miao Autonomous County () is a county located in Honghe Hani and Yi Autonomous Prefecture in the southeast of Yunnan province, People's Republic of China. Its seat is located only from the border with Lào Cai Province, Vietnam. Ad ...

counties and

Simao District Simao District (; formerly known as Cuiyun District) is a district under the jurisdiction of Pu'er City, Yunnan Province, China. It is the seat of Pu'er Prefecture. Formerly both Simao and the surrounding region of Pu'er prefecture played a majo ...

), Laos and

Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...

. Var. ''deciduum'' is endemic to Cambodia. The nominate variety, var. ''majus'', is found in Thailand, Myanmar and Yunnan. Var. ''phanrangense'' is endemic to Vietnam. Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos are the native regions for the var. ''pierrei''.

Habitat

In Zhōngguó/China, ''D. majus'' is found in forest at between 1100 and 1500m elevation. Var. ''pierrei'' is found in coastal forests.

Vernacular names

''Daphniphyllum majus'' is known as 大叶虎皮楠 ''da ye hu pi nan'' in Zhōngguó/China. Var. ''pierrei'' is known as ''rum dé:nh'' or ''châmbâk pra:ng'' in

Khmer Khmer(s) may refer to: Cambodia *''Srok Khmer'' (lit. "Khmer land" or "Land of the Khmer(s)"), a colloquial exonym used to refer to Cambodia by Cambodians; see * *Khmer people, the ethnic group to which the great majority of Cambodians belong ** ...

Uses

The dried leaves of var. ''pierrei'' are smoked (as in tobacco) in Cambodia. The wood is excellent firewood.

References

majus ''Majūs'' (Arabic: مجوس) or ''Magūs'' ( Persian: مگوش) was originally a term meaning Zoroastrians (and specifically, Zoroastrian priests). It was a technical term, meaning magus, and like its synonym '' gabr'' (of uncertain etymology) o ...

Flora of Cambodia Flora of Laos Flora of Myanmar Flora of Thailand Flora of Vietnam Flora of Yunnan Plants described in 1865 {{Saxifragales-stub