Volume 14 > Part 2 > Year 2019 > Page 234 > Araliaceae > Schefflera

11. Schefflera leucantha R.Vig.wfo-0000306030

Ann. Sci. Nat., Sér. 9, Bot. 9: 358. 1909; in Lecomte, Fl. Indo-Chine 2(9): 1175. 1923; Grushv. & Skvortsova, Adansonia n.s. 9: 379. 1969; C.B.Shang, Candollea 39: 467. 1984; P.H.Hô, Câyco Viêtnam 2: 616, pl. 5383. 1993; Frodin in Frodin & Govaerts, World Checkl. Bibliogr. Araliac.: 349. 2004 (‘2003’); C.B.Shang & Lowry, Fl. China 13: 458. 2007.

Synonyms & Citations :

Description : Shrubs to 1.5 m tall, sometimes scandent; bark thin, smooth, grey; branches glabrous. Leaves: glabrous; stipule ca 4 mm long, as a short rim only; petiole 4–9 cm long; leaflets (4–)6–7(–9), their petiolules 3–22 mm long, variable within the same leaf, elliptic, 6–9 by 1.5–2.5 cm, uniform in size, chartaceous, base acute, margin entire, apex acute to subacuminate, not glaucous and hardly brighter beneath, venation distinct, side veins in 4–6 pairs. Inflorescences with a short main axis 1–2 cm long, giving rise to 2–5 branches, each ca 6–11 by 3–5 cm, simple; subglabrous with scattered and indistinct hairs ca 0.1–0.2 mm long; bracts along the main axis ca 1 mm long, soon caducous and rarely seen; umbels 2–2.5 cm in diam., with ca 6–7 flowers, peduncle 5–8 (in fruit to 12) mm long, simple. Flowers: pedicel ca 6 mm long; sepals 5; petals 5, 1.2 by 1 mm, free; locules 5; stamens 5, filaments 1.5–2 mm long; ovary 5-locular. Fruits green turning orange; umbels often with 1–2 fruits only; pedicel (2–)6–8 mm long; drupes 5–6 by 3–4 mm, 5-locular, deeply sulcate, with an apical turret of 5 sessile stigmas.

Thailand : Cultivated only, found in NORTHERN: Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai.

Distribution : Vietnam (type), S China, cultivated elsewhere.

Ecology : Cultivated, 300–900 m alt. Flowering and fruiting: February–May.

Vernacular : Hanuman prasan kai (หนุมานประสานกาย), hanuman prankao (หนุมานปรานก้าว).

Uses: Ornamental shrub and medicinal plant, used as an antiasthmatic because of its saponins.

E-version notes : Heptapleurum leucanthum (R.Vig.) Y.F.Deng
Med. Fl. China 7: 473. 2018.