| English Name | Silver-back Artocarpus, Sweet Artocarpus |
|---|---|
| Status in China | Near Threatened (NT). Recorded in China Plant Red Data Book and Illustration of Rare & endangered plant in Guangdong Province. |
Description:
Evergreen tree with milky juice; young shoots and petioles covered with rusty short hairs. Leaves alternate, leathery, elliptic or obovate-oblong, 7-15 cm long and 5-8 cm wide, entire, densely grayish tomentellate. Plant monoecious: staminate flowers on obovoid or club-shaped stiff spikes, 1.5-2 cm long; pistilate flowers in a dense globose head. Fruit a syncarp, ca. 1.5 cm in diam., orange, papillate and brown pubescent.
Distribution:
Various places in Hong Kong. Hainan, Guangdong, Guangxi, Yunnan, Hunnan, Jiangxi, Fujian.
Habitat and Ecology:
In lowland broadleaved evergreen forest and fung shui wood. Flowering: late spring to early summer.
The beautiful shape of the tree and its dark green leaves make it very suitable for cultivation as an ornamental species. The species occurs on lowlands, and is susceptible to habitat destruction. In Hong Kong, this species is relatively common and many localities of wild occurrence are in Country Parks under protection. The species has also been artificially propagated.
References:
陳偉球，1987：廣東植物誌1：185，圖201。廣東科技出版社，廣州。
傅立國，1992: 中國植物紅皮書1：464-465。科學出版社，北京。
吳德鄰等，1988：廣東珍稀瀕危植物圖譜13，圖39。中國環境科學出版社, 北京。
黎存志等，1999：香港珍稀瀕危植物的分布及保育，熱帶亞熱帶植物學報7（1）：1-6。
