Scientific Name : Ormosia henryi Prain
Common Name : -
Chinese Name : 花梨木、花櫚木、亨氏红豆
Family : FABACEAE
Local distribution status : Exotic species
| Origins | Native to Vietnam and Thailand, it is also distributed in several provinces of China, including Anhui, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Hunan, Hubei, Guangdong, Sichuan, Guizhou and southeastern Yunnan. |
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| Meanings of name | The generic name Ormosia originates from Greek word ‘ormos’, meaning ‘necklaces’, alluding to the fact that its seeds can be used as beads strung into necklaces. Due to the scarcity of Ormosia henryi and its use for timber, China has classified this species as a national second-class protected wild plant. |
| Ecology | Usually grows in low altitude hillsides and valleys at elevations of 100-1300 m. It often coexists with Albizia julibrissin, Cunninghamia lanceolata, Liquidambar formosana and Pinus massoniana. |
| Application | Ormosia henryi can be planted as an ornamental or fire-resistant tree. Its timber is fine, dense and heavy, with a beautiful texture suitable for furniture making. Additionally, the roots, branches and leaves of Ormosia henryi have medical value which can dispel pathogenic wind, resolve masses, remove toxic substances, and alleviate blood stasis. |
| Growing habit | Evergreen tree. |
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| Height | To 16 m tall. |
| Stem | Bark greyish green, smooth, shallowly striate. Branchlets densely covered with towny tomentose. |
| Leaves | Leaves imparipinnate, leaflets 3-7; blades elliptic or oblong-elliptic, leathery, abaxial surface and petiole densely appressed yellowish brown tomentose, adaxial surface dark green and glabrous, base rounded or broadly cuneate, sometimes slightly cordate, margin slightly repand, apex broadly rounded or acute, blunt or mucronate; lateral veins 6-11 pairs. |
| Flower | Panicles terminal, or racemes axillary, densely appressed brownish tomentose. Calyx campanulate; teeth ca. 2/3 length of calyx, triangular-ovate, densely appressed brownish tomentose on both surfaces. Corolla greenish white, margin green and slightly purplish; wings purplish green, obovate-oblong; keel obovate-oblong. Stamen free, unequal; filaments light green; anthers light greyish purple. Ovary flattened, densely appressed brownish villous along suture, otherwise glabrous; ovules 9 or 10; style filiform; stigma oblique. |
| Fruit | Legumes compressed, oblong, apex beaked; valves purplish brown, leathery, glabrous, internally septate. |
| Seed | Seeds 4-8, rarely 1-2, red-brown to scarlet, ellipsoid or ovoid, glossy. |
Scientific name above is based on Flora of China website:
http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=2&taxon_id=200012243
Scientific Names from Other Databases
―GBIF: Ormosia henryi Prain