Sycamore in Yunnan

Sycamore family

FirmianamajorHand.-Mazz.

Alias: safflower sycamore, black sycamore

Deciduous trees, more than 14 m high. Bark greenish black, old bark black, slightly scabrous; branchlets stout, pubescent. Leaves palmately 3-lobed, 17ml 30cm long and 19Mel 40cm wide, often larger in width than length, apex acute. Base cordate, leaf surface glabrous, abaxially densely yellowish brown pubescent, then gradually deciduous, basal veins 5 mi 7; petiole stout, 15 mi 45 cm long, initially hairy. And then fall off. Inflorescences terminal or axillary, flowers purplish red; calyx 5-parted to base. Sepals oblong or oblong-striate, ca. 12 mm, hairy, bony process. Fruit membranous, ca. 7 cm long, 4.5 cm wide, glabrous. The seeds are spherical, larger and round than Qingtong, about 8 mm in diameter, yellowish brown, with wrinkles on the surface. The florescence is from June to July. The ripening period is at the end of October.

Produced in central, south-central and western Yunnan, born in mountains or slopes with an elevation of 1600mi 3000 meters above sea level, it is often cultivated by roadsides and temples and gardens near the village. Seeds propagate and grow fast. With purple-red flowers, beautiful tree shape and strong resistance, sycamore in Yunnan is an excellent garden and urban greening tree species and ornamental tree species.