Daphniphyllum calycinum

Daphniphyllum calycinum is a species of shrubby plant in the family Daphniphyllaceae. It is found in northern Vietnam and southeastern China. It is used in biodiesel and in lubrication, soap-making and Chinese medicine.

Daphniphyllum calycinum
Conservation status
Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Eudicots
Order:	Saxifragales
Family:	Daphniphyllaceae
Genus:	Daphniphyllum
Species:	D. calycinum
Binomial name
Daphniphyllum calycinum Benth.
Synonyms[2]
Daphniphyllum calleryanum Baill. Daphniphyllum gaudichaudianum Baill.

Taxonomy

The species is in section Lunata of Daphniphyllum, along with D. griffithianum and D. majus.^[3]

"[T]he premier systematic botanist of the nineteenth century", George Bentham (1800–84), English, described this plant in 1861 in his publication Flora Hongkongensis; a description of the flowering plants and ferns of the island of Hongkong^[4][5]

Description

This species grows as a shrub some 1-5-4m tall. The grayish-brown branches are sparsely lenticillate. The petioles are some 4 to 8 cm long. The obovate to obovate-elliptic leaf blades are 12–16 by 4–9 cm in size, they are chartaceous, glaucous/hairy and are inconspicuously papillate on lower surface; broadly cuneate leaf base, slightly reflexed margins and obtuse to rounded apex, mucronate; 8-11 pairs of later veins are visible on upper surface, prominent on lower. Male flowers have an 8–10 cm pedicel and a discoid calyx with 3 or 4 broadly triangular lobes, 9 or 10 stamens some 3 mm long with very short filaments, oblong laterally-compressed anthers, connective exserted. Female flowers have a 5–6 mm pedicel, broadly-triangular calyx-loves about 1.5mm in size, ellipsoidal ovary 1.5–2 mm in size, very short style, 2 recurved stigmas. The Infructescence/fruiting head is some 4–5 cm in size, densely arranged with ovoid-ellipsoidal, tubercalate^{[check spelling]}, glaucous drupes some 7 by 4 mm in size, with persistent calyx and style branches. Flowering occurs from April to June, while fruiting is from August to November.^[6]

Distinguishing characteristics of this species are: the size (9–16 by 4–9 cm) and shape (obovate to obovate-elliptic) of the leaf blade, the obtuse to rounded apex; and size (about 7 mm), dense arrangement and glaucousness of the fruit.^[7]

Distribution

The plant is native to an area from northern Vietnam to southeastern China (Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Hong Kong, south Hunan, south Jiangxi).^[2][6]

Habitat and ecology

The shrub grows in forests and thickets at altitudes of occasionally below 100m but mainly 200-700m.^[6]

Daphniphyllum calycinum is present on the degraded hillside shrublands of Hong Kong, it is common there in scrubland and forest edges.^[8][9] Birds disperse the dry-season fruiting seeds.

The follicular micromycete, or sac-fungi, Mycosphaerella fasciculata, in the Mycosphaerellaceae family, uses this species as a host.^[10]

Conservation

The species is listed as "least concern".^[1]

Vernacular names

• vai lá xoan ngược is a name used in Vietnam.
• 牛耳枫, niu er feng, or niu-er-fon, is a name used in China^[6][11]

Uses

The seeds provide abundant oil that was used in lubrication and to make refined soap, however recently because of its toxicity it is only used in biodiesel.^[6][11] Roots and leaves are used within Chinese medicine. The plant has many alkaloids and other active ingredients, see for example Wu et al., 2013.^[11]