Scientific Name : Elaeocarpus chinensis (Gardner and Champ.) Hook. f. ex Benth.
Common Name : Chinese Elaeocarpus, Elaeocarpus
Chinese Name : 中華杜英、野杜英
Family : ELAEOCARPACEAE
Local distribution status : Native species
| Origin | Widely distributed in evergreen forests at 300-900 m above sea level in South-Central and Southeast China, and Vietnam. |
|---|---|
| Meanings of name | The epithet "chinensis" means Chinese, and describes the Chinese Du Ying was born in China. |
| Application | It is a source of a traditional Chinese medicine to mitigate the symptoms of emmeniopathy and traumatic injuries. |
| Domatia |
Unlike animals, plants are sessile and susceptible to attacks. Under the intensive and endless selective pressure, plants have developed versatile defence systems to tackle their natural enemies. Domatia are types of modified leaf structures at the junction of midveins and lateral veins of abaxial leaves, with a purpose of maintaining the plant safe by hiring ‘bodyguards’ which are usually mites. The bodyguards conceal themselves under the domatia and quietly devour pests (e.g. thrips and white flies) that appear on the leaves. Domatia are armed by many plants with multiple shapes. For example, the domatia of Terminalia catappa (Indian Almond) and Bischofia javanica (Autumn Maple) are pit-like. Not all but most of Elaeocarpus are equipped triangular-pocket-like domatia, such as Chinese Elaeocarpus, E. sylvestris (Woodland Elaeocarpus), E. decipiens (Common Elaeocarpus) and E. japonicus (Japanese Elaeocarpus). The microscopic world is always amazing, veiling the fierce earth under its subtle appearance. |
| Growing habit | Evergreen tree. |
|---|---|
| Height | To 7 m. |
| Stem | Branchlets puberulous at first, glabrescent. |
| Leaves | Simple leaves alternate, crowded at the current branchlets. Blade thin leathery, pubescent at first, glabrescent, ovate-lanceolate or lanceolate, apex acuminate, base rounded, rarely broadly cuneate, minutely crenate, abaxially densely black punctate, lateral veins 4-6 pairs, with observable domatia at the junction of the midvein and the lateral veins. |
| Flower | Polygamous (male and bisexual flowers). Racemes axillary. Hermaphrodite flowers: sepals 4, petals 4, greenish white, stamens 8-10. Male flowers: sepals and petals as bisexual flowers, stamens 8-10, without pistillodes. |
| Fruit | Drupes ellipsoid, turning black at maturity. |
| Flowering period | May to June in Hong Kong. |
| Fruiting period | October to November in Hong Kong. |
Scientific name above is based on Hong Kong Herbarium website :
https://herbarium.gov.hk/en/hk-plant-database/plant-detail/index.html?pType=species&oID=2624
Scientific names from other databases :
― Flora of China : Elaeocarpus chinensis (Gardner and Champion) J. D. Hooker ex Bentham
― Plants of the World Online : Elaeocarpus chinensis (Gardner and Champ.) Hook.f. ex Benth.