Croton hancei
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Croton hancei |
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Croton hancei is a species of the species-rich genus Croton in the milkweed family (Euphorbiaceae). It grows endemically on the 10 km² small Hong Kong island of Tsing Yi .
description
Croton hancei grows as a shrub or small tree to a height of about 5 meters. Young twigs and inflorescences are evenly haired with adjoining, star-shaped trichomes . Older branches are hairless. The paper-like leaves are elongated-lanceolate, 8 to 18 cm long and 2 to 5 cm wide; they sit on a 2 to 5 millimeter short stem. The leaf blade is hairless and tapering to a point, the base is narrowed to blunt. The leaf margin is whole or finely serrated.
Flowering time is from June to August. They stand in terminal, about 3 cm long racemose inflorescences , which are supported by small bracts . The flowers are unisexual. The male flowers consist of egg-shaped sepals , short and narrow petals and 16 stamens . The stamens are woolly. The female flowers are usually solitary at the base of the inflorescence; the five petals are elongated and each about 4 to 5 millimeters long. The ovary is almost spherical and densely hairy. The three styluses are conical in the lower part and bilobed in the upper part.
Systematics and history of discovery
The plant was discovered by HF Hance on Hong Kong Island in the 1850s ; the first description as a new species comes from the British botanist George Bentham and appeared in Flora Hongkongensis in 1861 . After that, the species was not seen for over a century. On February 21, 1997, she was rediscovered by employees of the Hong Kong Herbarium on a steep, forested mountain slope on Tsing Yi Island.
Two varieties are distinguished within the species:
- Croton hancei var. Hancei .
- Croton hancei var. Tsoi H.S.Kiu
Individual evidence
- ↑ Fl. Hongk .: 308 (1861).
- ↑ See the species list of the genus Croton at Kew Checklists ( enter Croton in the search box); Retrieved March 28, 2008.
- ↑ Guihaia 23: 98 (2003).
swell
- Description in hkherbarium.net (Engl.)
- Description in hkflora.com (Engl.)
