Sloanea tomentosa

Sloanea tomentosa (Benth.) Rehder & E. H. Wilson, in C.S.Sargent, Pl. Wilson. 2: 362 (1915) (syn: Echinocarpus tomentosus Benth. );
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Himalaya to China (S. Yunnan) and Indo-China: Assam, China South-Central, East Himalaya, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Thailand, Vietnam, West Himalaya as per POWO;
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Evergreen trees; 25-40 m tall; bark brown, exfoliating; branchlets densely rust-brown tomentose. Leaves simple, alternate, spiral; petiole ca. 2-10 cm, robust, terete, rust-colored tomentose; lamina ca. 15-30 x 7-18 cm, elliptic or ovate, acute or narrowed to subcordate or rounded at base, acuminate at apex, coarsely toothed, coriaceous; secondary nerves 9-12 pairs, prominent beneath, glabrous above, tomentose beneath. Flowers axillary, solitary, subtended by often bract-like leaves, ca. 1-2 cm across, pale white; pedicels ca. 2-4 cm long, tomentose, often elongating in fruits; sepals 5, ca. 7-10 mm long, ovate or oblong-ovate, pointed, tomentose outside; petals 5, ca. 8-10 mm long, creamy white, free or connate, oblong, concave, variously cut at apex, pubescent; stamens numerous; filaments ca. 3-4 mm long, pilose; anthers ca. 2-3.5 mm long, linear with ca. 1.5-2 mm long awns; disc broad, flattened or cushion-shaped, pitted; ovary globose, 4-loculed, sericeous; styles ca. 8-10 mm long, hairy at base. Capsules ca. 3.5-4 cm across, globose or ovoid, 4-5-valved; valves ca. 3-4 cm long, woody, densely covered with ca. 2-3 mm long plumose bristles; bristles dilated towards apex, deciduous. Seeds ca. 1.5 cm, arillate.
In moist deciduous and semievergreen forests between 1500 and 2000 m.
India: Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal (Darjeeling), Sikkim, Assam, Meghalaya and Manipur; Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar, Thailand and China (Yunnan).
(Attributions: Ayyappan. N & V. Kokilavani, French Institute of Pondicherry, Compiled from various sources listed in the reference as per India Biodiversity Portal)
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SK 3896 19 November 2023: 2 images.