(41) 石梓
Gmelina chinensis Benth.
馬鞭草科 (Verbenaceae)
Status in China: Vulnerable (VU). Recorded in Illustration of Rare & endangered plant in Guangdong Province.
Description: Trees or shrubs, 3-12 m tall; branchlets yellow-brown pubescent when young, glabrescent. Leaves opposite; petiole 2-2.5 cm; leaf blade ovate to ovate-elliptic, 5-15 cm long and 3-7 cm wide, apex acuminate, base cuneate, margin entire, papery, abaxial surface bluish green, pulverulent and with gland patches, lateral nerves 3-5 pairs. Petiole 2-2.5 cm long. Flowers in terminal thyrses. Calyx campanulate, 5-12 mm long, apex truncate. Corolla funnel-form, white or pink, 3-3.5 cm long, limb oblique, 4-lobed; lobes subequal. Stamens 4, didynamous; filaments flattened. Ovary densely pubescent on apex. Drupe obovoid, ca. 2.2 cm long.
Distribution: Tung Chung (Lantau Island), Keung Shan, Tai O. Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi and Guizhou.
Habitat and Ecology: In forests and shrublands on mountain slopes. Flowering: Mar.-Jun.; fruiting: Sept.
A timber tree provides durable and easily-worked wood. Outside Hong Kong, it is threatened by destruction of habitats and timber extraction. In Hong Kong, this species is locally common in Lantau and is not under any particular threat.
References:
裴鑒、陳守良，
1982: 中國植物誌，
65（1）：129。圖
64。科學出版社，北京。
吳德鄰等，
1988：廣東珍稀瀕危植物圖譜
40。圖
128。中國環境科學出版社，北京。