Scientific Name : Microcos nervosa (Lour.) S. Y. Hu
Common Name : Microcos, Panicilate Microcos
Chinese Name : 破布葉，布渣葉
Family : TILIACEAE
Local distribution status : Native species
| Origins | It is distributed in southern China; Pakistan, Malaysia and other regions. |
|---|---|
| Ecology | Microcos is a common tree distributed along thickets and hillslopes in Hong Kong. The tree plays a vital role in environments. For instance, its leaves provide natural shelter to the larvae of Odontoptilum angulatum (Chestnut Angle), a small butterfly species with chestnut colour. Chestnut Angle always lay eggs on the leaf surface. After the larvae were born, they feed on the leaves and twist the leaves into a shelter that can conceal themselves from natural enemies. The leaf shelters are swollen when the larvae grow, they ultimately transform into pupae inside the shelters. After days of struggling in a pupa, a beautiful butterfly emerges. The life cycle of Chestnut Angle is an excellent example delineating the commensalism relationship with Microcos, a kind of biological interactions depicting a species benefiting from another species, while there is no any gain or loss to the latter. |
| Application | The leaves are usually dried for traditional Chinese medicines. They are composed of abundant flavonoids, such as isorhamnetin, kaempferol and quercetin; therefore, they taste sour, tasteless and neutral. The leaves can effectively relieve common cold, diarrhea and abdominal administration. As a result of its excellent medicinal effects, Microcos is also one of the primary ingredients of ‘24 flavours’, which is a well-known Cantonese herbal tea. Other than medicinal functions, the wood of Microcos can be processed into building materials while the bark can be used for making ropes. |
| Meanings of names | The generic name Microcos refers to its leaf texture akin to crepe cloth. |
| Growing habit | Shrub or small evergreen tree. |
|---|---|
| Height | To 12 m. |
| Root | Sometimes with buttress root. |
| Stem | Bark coarse, yellowish brown or greyish brown, branchlets hairy. |
| Leaves | Simple leaves alternate. Blade thin leathery to papery, ovate or ovate oblong, base round, apex acuminate, irregularly tiny-toothed or undulate, stellate pubescent initially, glabrescent, lateral veins obvious, trinerved. Stipules persistent, linear-lanceolate. |
| Flower | Hermaphroditic. Panicles terminal or axillary, stellate hairy. Petals 5, yellowish pubescent. |
| Fruit | Drupes subglobose or obovoid, glabrous, turning dark brown when ripe. |
| Flowering period | June to July in Hong Kong. |
| Fruiting period | July to December 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=2970
Scientific names from other databases :
― Flora of China : Microcos paniculata Linnaeus
― Plants of the World Online : Microcos paniculata L.