Scientific Name : Ternstroemia gymnanthera (Wight & Arn.) Bedd.
Common Name : Naked Anther Ternstroemia
Chinese Name : 厚皮香
Family : THEACEAE
Local distribution status : Native species
| Origins | South and Mainland Southeast Asia, South-Central and Southeast China, and Hong Kong. |
|---|---|
| Ecology | We can easily tell if a plant is male or female when its flowers contain stamens or pistils only. We describe a plant as hermaphrodite when its flowers bear both stamens and pistils. However, can the sex expression of a plant demonstrate only on a microscopic level? In other words, we are hard to distinguish its sex expression with bare eyes. Here we describe it as ‘cryptically dioecious’, in which the actual sex is concealed in a small scale. Naked Anther Ternstroemia has been long regarded as andro-dioecious (a plant carrying both bisexual and male flowers); however, the status of bisexuality is questioned. Some studies found that the bisexual flowers carried larger pollen grains than male flowers. Intriguingly, the pollen grains do not present aperture and cannot form a pollen tube, indicating the failures of reproduction and fruiting. The pollens produced by the ‘bisexual’ flowers could mainly function as rewards to pollinators. Under this scenario, therefore, Naked Anther Ternstroemia may be dioecious instead of andro-dioecious. |
| Application | Naked Anther Ternstroemia is valued for its dense foliage, tiered branches and superior shady tolerance. It is always pruned into a ball shape or planted into a row of hedges. Since Naked Anther Ternstroemia grows sluggishly, it can maintain a decent shape for a longer time. |
| Meaning of names | The generic name Ternstroemia commemorates the Swedish naturalist Christopher Ternstroem (1703-1746), who was one of the students of Carl Linnaeus (1707-1778), ‘the father of modern taxonomy’. The specific epithet gymnanthera means exposed anthers. |
| Growing habit | Evergreen shrub or small tree. |
|---|---|
| Height | Up to 15 m. |
| Stem | Bark smooth, greyish brown. Current year branchlets purplish red to reddish brown, glabrous. |
| Leaves | Simple leaves alternate, always crowded spirally at the apex of branchlets. Blade leathery, obovate to broadly elliptic, apex acute to shortly acuminate, base cuneate, margin entire or sparsely serrate at top, black dots at apical teeth, with impressed midvein, adaxially lustrous, abaxially light green. Petioles 5 –10 mm, adaxially grooved. |
| Flowers | Androdioecious. Flowers axillary, solitary or clustered on leafless branchlets. Pedicels 1-1.5 cm. Bisexual flowers: petals pale yellow, stamens many, style short, short, apically 2-lobed. Male flowers: similar, reduced pistil. |
| Fruits | Berries globose, purplish red when mature. |
| Flowering period | July to August in Hong Kong. |
| Fruiting period | August to October 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=7706
Scientific names from other databases :
― Flora of China : Ternstroemia gymnanthera (Wight & Arnott) Beddome
― Plants of the World Online : Ternstroemia gymnanthera (Wight & Arn.) Bedd.