Lantern tree

Chinese name: lantern tree

Nickname: Hanging Bell Flower, Rong Zhen.

Two-name method: Liriodendron China

Field: the field of plants

Phylum: Angiosperm phylum

Category: Dicotyledonous plants

Subclass: Acanthopanax quinquefolium

Objective: Ericaceae.

Family: Ericaceae

Subdivision; aralis

Genus: Chimonanthus praecox

Type: lantern tree

Distribution: Domestic distribution: Anhui, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Fujian, Hubei and Hunan.

Lantern tree is a deciduous shrub of Ericaceae. Growing in central China. Only 2-6 meters high. Every summer, there are more than a dozen meat-red bell-shaped flowers hanging on both sides of its branches, so it is also called bell-shaped flowers. The fruit of the lantern tree ripens in October and is oval and brown. Interestingly, its fruit stalk hangs completely downward, while its top is bent upward, so the fruit is upright. From a distance, it seems that the branches are covered with small lanterns, hence the name. Lantern tree not only has beautiful flowers and fruits, but also leaves turn red in autumn, which is not like maple leaf, but better than maple leaf. It is a promising garden ornamental tree.

morphological character

Deciduous shrubs or small trees, 3-6m high and as thin as10m; Young branches are gray-green, glabrous, and old branches are dark gray; The bud is cylindrical, with a length of 8- 10 mm, and the bud scale is wide and lanceolate, with a length of about 5 mm and a width of about 1.5 mm, which is reddish, with a small tip at the top and cilia at the edge. Leaves are usually clustered at the top of branches, paper-like, oblong to oblong-ovoid, 3-4 (-5) cm long and 2-2.5 cm wide, with obtuse top, short convex tip, broad wedge-shaped or wedge-shaped base, obtuse serrated edge, hairless on both sides, concave midvein on the surface, obvious lateral veins on the surface and obvious four veins on the back; Petiole stout, 0.8- 1 (- 15) mm long, grooved and glabrous. Flowers mostly form umbrella racemes; Flowers are extremely slender, 2.5-4 cm long, glabrous; Flowers hang down; Calyx 5-lobed, lobes triangular, about 2.5 mm long, ciliate; Corolla bell-shaped, length and width 1 cm, flesh red, mouth 5-lobed; Stamens 10, inserted at the base of corolla, filaments 4.5 mm long, swollen below the middle, puberulent, anthers 2-lobed, 1.5 mm long, awn about 1 mm long; Ovary spherical, with 5 longitudinal stripes, sparsely white short hair, style about 5.5 mm long, sparsely puberulent. The capsule is ovoid, 6-9 (-8) mm in diameter, and the ventral fissure is divided into 5 petals. The pulp is about 6 mm long and 3.2 mm wide, with a micro longitudinal groove in the middle. The seeds are about 6 mm long, slightly shiny, wrinkled and winged, and there are many seeds in every room. The seeds are inserted in the upper part of the central axis. Flowering in May and bearing fruit in June -65438+ 10 [1]? . From a distance, the branches seem to be covered with small lanterns, hence the name Lantern Tree. Lantern trees are not only beautiful in flowers and fruits, but also turn deep red in autumn, which is better than maple leaves. They are trees with great ornamental value.

Distribution of origin

Anhui, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Fujian, Hubei, Hunan, Guangxi, Sichuan, Guizhou and Yunnan. The lantern tree was born in the arid mountain area at an altitude of 1000m [3]? Sparse forests on the hillside. Type specimens were collected from western Yunnan.

Plant characteristics

Give off a dim light

There is a glowing tree in Jinggangshan area of China, which is called "lantern tree" by local people.

It is an evergreen broad-leaved tree, and its leaves contain a lot of phosphorus.

Because the lantern tree has a strong ability to absorb phosphorus in the soil, it is distributed on the leaves and emits a small amount of phosphine gas. These gases have a low ignition point and can spontaneously ignite in the air, giving off a light blue flame-cold light with extremely low temperature. On a clear and calm night, these cold lights gather together, just like street lamps in the mountains. [4]?

harmful

This species is a poisonous plant recorded in China Botanical Atlas Database, and its toxicity is that mice died after intraperitoneal injection of chloroform extract from mosaic 1000mg/kg and 16 hours.