猴鍋樹

植物簡介

It is a tree, up to 20 m tall. Bark is grey to dark brown and deeply fissured. Twigs are densely hairy when young, and becoming hairless as it matures. Tree may grow new leaves and flush red before flowering. Leaves are ovate to widely elliptic (6 – 18 cm long and 3 – 8 cm wide), dark green and leathery, with lobed leaf margin (crenate). Leaf has 10 – 20 pairs of secondary veins. Leaf tip is acuminate, while leaf base is rounded to obtuse and extends narrowly towards the petiole. Petiole is 0.4 – 1.2 cm long. Leaves are deciduous and drops annually for new leaves to grow. Young leaves flush red and turning cream to light green then dark green as it matures. Inflorescence occurs in racemes and axillary position. The stalk is about 3 – 15 cm long and consist of 6 – 20 flowers. Inflorescence has a leaf-like bract at the base and 2 ovate bracteoles, which may fall off early. Flower is 3 – 7 wide and comprises of 6 oval shaped purple lobes (0.35 – 0.8 cm long and 0.35 – 0.8 cm wide) and 6 unequal petals (1.7 – 3.5 cm long and 1.4 – 2.7 cm wide) which are usually purple but sometimes white. Petals always fade to white after falling. The hood containing the stamens is flat (1.6 – 2.5 cm long and 1.6 – 3 cm wide), mostly purple but sometimes white. The anthers inside the hood is white or light yellow when fresh and becoming black. There are 114 – 350 stamens on the staminal ring. Fruit is woody, brown coloured, and has a roundish, oblong or spinning-top shaped (turbinate) (about 6 – 15 cm long and 8.5 – 30 cm wide). It splits open like a pot and lid when ripe. The woody fruit wall is up to 3 cm thick. There are 10 – 30 seeds inside each fruit, the seeds (about 4 – 6 cm long and 2.5 – 3 cm wide) are covered with fleshy white aril.