Volume 11 > Part 4 > Year 2014 > Page 576 > Lythraceae > Lagerstroemia

16. Lagerstroemia tomentosa C.Preslwfo-0001075940

Bot. Bemerk. (C.Presl): 142. 1844; Abh. Königl. Böhm. Ges. Wiss. ser. 5, 3: 572. 1845; Gagnep., Fl. Indo-Chine [P.H.Lecomte et al.] 2: 958. 1921; Craib, Fl. Siam. 1: 726. 1931; Furtado & Srisuko, Gard. Bull. Singapore 24: 292, f. 40. 1969; P.H.Hô, Ill. Fl. Vietnam 2(1): 27, f. 3668. 1992; S.Gardner, Sidisunthorn & Anusarnsunthorn, Field Guide Forest Trees Northern Thailand: 204: 444. 2000; H.N.Qin & S.A.Graham, Fl. China 13: 278. 2007; H.N.Qin, S.A.Graham & M.G.Gilbert, Fl. China Ill. f. 297: 6–8. 2008. Fig. 8. Plate CXX: 8–9.

Accepted Name : This is currently accepted.

Synonyms & Citations :

Description : Deciduous or evergreen trees 5–35 m tall, sometimes coppicing at base; bark light brown, thin or thick, finely or roughly vertically cracking (salao). Leaves: petiole 0.5–0.8 cm long; lamina densely soft hairy, hairs stellate, becoming glabrous above and hairy or glabrescent below, 7–17(–25) cm long; lateral veins 6–10(–12) on each side; intercostal venation scalariform. Inflorescences terminal or partly lateral, lax, to 40 cm long, wholly finely short-hairy, hairs stellate or dendroid. Flowers: bud short-hairy, obovoid, ca 7 mm long, pseudopedicel ca 1 mm long; calyx tube 3–4 mm long, 12-ridged, without auricles; calyx lobes glabrous within, ca 3 mm long; petals white or light blue to lilac turning white, blade elliptic, acute, 10–15 mm long, margin entire but crenulate-subfimbriate at apex, claw ca 5 mm long; stamens radially dimorphic (6 or 7 outer stamens longer than numerous inner ones); ovary hairy. Capsules black, glossy, smooth or coarsely retiulate-wrinkled (not shagreen), hairy when young, becoming glabrous but hairy at apex, 10–17 mm long, 6-valved; fruiting calyx ca 12-ridged (sometimes fewer), the ridges not winged; calyx lobes glabrous inside, thin, without auricles at the sinuses between the calyx lobes, reflexed; fruiting pseudopedicel 1–5 mm long.

Thailand : NORTHERN: Mae Hong Son (Pang Mu), Chiang Mai (Ban Mae Hia Nai, Huai Nam Dang NP, Doi Suthep – lectotype of Lagerstroemia tomentosa var. caudata: Hosseus 512, isolectotypes -BM, E; Doi Chiang Dao, Chai Prakan, Pong Duet Nature Park, Pong Duet Hot Springs, Mae Pah Boo), Chiang Rai (Doi Luang NP, Doi Thung), Phayao (Doi Luang NP, Doi Pha Chang WS), Lamphun (Doi Khun Tan NP), Lampang (Chae Son NP), Tak (Doi Musoe), Sukhothai, Nakhon Sawan (Mae Wong NP); SOUTH-WESTERN: Kanchanaburi (Three Pagodas, Prangkasi, Forest Research and Demonstration Centre, Sai Yok, Sangkhla Buri), Prachuap Khiri Khan (Khao Sam Roi Yot NP); CENTRAL: Nakhon Nayok (Khao Yai NP).

Distribution : Myanmar (Moulmein – type of Lagerstroemia tomentosa: Helfer 30), Vietnam, China (Yunnan).

Ecology : Often open places; primary dry evergreen, seasonal, hardwood forests and mixed deciduous forests, often with much bamboo, also near streams and on riverbanks; granite, shale, phyllite, sandstone, and limestone bedrock; sea level to 1,150 m alt. Flowering: February–June; fruiting: probably all year round, but not collected in March, June, and October. The flowers are slightly fragrant.

Vernacular : Bo yong เบาะโยง, bo sa aen (เบาะสะแอน), bo sao (เบาะเส้า)(Chiang Rai); pueai khao (เปื๋อยขาว), sao (เส้า), sao khao (เส้าขาว), sao bo (เส้าเบาะ), sao luang (เส้าหลวง)(Northern); salao (เสลา)(Ratchaburi, Saraburi); salao khao (เสลาขาว)(Ratchaburi); salao plueak bang (เสลาเปลือกบาง)(Kamphaeng Phet); cha-wo (จะวอ), chu-do (จูดอ)(Karen-Mae Hong Son); chuang-fa (ฉ่วงฟ้า)(Karen-Kanchanaburi); chuang (ชวง)(Karen-Mae Hong Son).

Uses: In Thailand, where trees can reach a tall size, the trunks become hollow with age and are used by hornbills for nesting.

Notes: The trunk is recorded as fluted.

The longer filaments are purple with dark reddish anthers, the inner ones greenish with yellow anthers.