''Cananga brandisiana'' is a species of

plant Plants are predominantly photosynthetic eukaryotes of the kingdom Plantae. Historically, the plant kingdom encompassed all living things that were not animals, and included algae and fungi; however, all current definitions of Plantae exclud ...

in the family

Annonaceae The Annonaceae are a Family (biology), family of flowering plants consisting of trees, shrubs, or rarely lianas commonly known as the custard apple family or soursop family. With 108 accepted genera and about 2400 known species, it is the largest ...

. It is native to

Cambodia Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia, spanning an area of , bordered by Thailand t ...

Laos Laos (, ''Lāo'' )), officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic ( Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ, French: République démocratique populaire lao), is a socialist ...

, Malaya,

Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John C. Wells, Joh ...

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...

, and

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

Jean Baptiste Louis Pierre Jean Baptiste Louis Pierre (23 October 1833 – 30 October 1905), also known as J. B. Louis Pierre, was a French botanist known for his Asian studies. Early life Pierre was born in Saint-André, Réunion, and studied in Paris before workin ...

, the French botanist who first formally described the species, using the

basionym In the scientific name of organisms, basionym or basyonym means the original name on which a new name is based; the author citation of the new name should include the authors of the basionym in parentheses. The term "basionym" is used in both botan ...

''Unona brandisiana'', named it in honor of Sir

Dietrich Brandis Sir Dietrich Brandis (31 March 1824 – 28 May 1907) was a German-British botanist and forestry academic and administrator, who worked with the British Imperial Forestry Service in colonial India for nearly 30 years. He joined the British civil ...

, the German botanist for whom Pierre worked in the

Indian Forest Service The Indian Forest Service (IFS) is one of the three All India Services of the Government of India. The other two All India Services being the Indian Administrative Service and the Indian Police Service. It was constituted in the year 1966 und ...

(then called the Imperial Forestry Service) in Calcutta.

Description

It is a tree reaching 25 meters in height. Its trunk has grey bark. Its long branches have a round cross-section and are covered in woolly hairs when young, but are hairless when mature. Its petioles are 12-20 mm long and covered in woolly hairs. Its hairless, elliptical leaves are 8-16 by 7-11 cm. One to eight fragrant flowers are on peduncles that are 10-20 mm long. Subtending the peduncles are oval

bract In botany, a bract is a modified or specialized leaf, especially one associated with a reproductive structure such as a flower, inflorescence axis or cone scale. Bracts are usually different from foliage leaves. They may be smaller, larger, or of ...

s that are 1.5-2.0 by 2.0 cm and covered in woolly hairs. About midway along the length of the peduncles is a

bracteole In botany, a bract is a modified or specialized leaf, especially one associated with a reproductive structure such as a flower, inflorescence axis or cone scale. Bracts are usually different from foliage leaves. They may be smaller, larger, or of ...

that is 8 by 2-5 mm and covered in woolly hairs. Its

sepal A sepal () is a part of the flower of angiosperms (flowering plants). Usually green, sepals typically function as protection for the flower in bud, and often as support for the petals when in bloom., p. 106 The term ''sepalum'' was coined b ...

s are 5 mm long and come to a shallow point. Its oblong, fleshy petals are 4-7 cm long and 2 cm wide at their widest point. The petals come to a point at their tip and are covered in woolly hairs. The flowers have about 240

stamen The stamen (plural ''stamina'' or ''stamens'') is the pollen-producing reproductive organ of a flower. Collectively the stamens form the androecium., p. 10 Morphology and terminology A stamen typically consists of a stalk called the filame ...

s. The receptacles of the flowers are hairy. Its flowers have 24

carpels Gynoecium (; ) is most commonly used as a collective term for the parts of a flower that produce ovules and ultimately develop into the fruit and seeds. The gynoecium is the innermost whorl of a flower; it consists of (one or more) ''pistils'' ...

that are covered in fine downy hairs. Its styles are hairless. Its

ovaries The ovary is an organ in the female reproductive system that produces an ovum. When released, this travels down the fallopian tube into the uterus, where it may become fertilized by a sperm. There is an ovary () found on each side of the body. T ...

have variable numbers of

ovules In seed plants, the ovule is the structure that gives rise to and contains the female reproductive cells. It consists of three parts: the ''integument'', forming its outer layer, the ''nucellus'' (or remnant of the megasporangium), and the fe ...

. Its cylindrical fruit is on

pedicels In botany, a pedicel is a stem that attaches a single flower to the inflorescence. Such inflorescences are described as ''pedicellate''. Description Pedicel refers to a structure connecting a single flower to its inflorescence. In the absenc ...

that are 5 mm long. The contour of the fruit is constricted around its seeds. The fruit contains two or three flattened, brown, shiny seeds that are 6 by 12 mm.

Reproductive biology

The pollen of ''C. brandisiana'' is shed as permanent tetrads.

Habitat and distribution

Pierre described it in 1881 as growing commonly in the forest areas in China and Cambodia.

Uses

In Cambodia, it is called by the common name ''chkè sraèng'', and is used in traditional medicine to treat fever. Bioactive molecules isolated from its bark, including acetogenins have been reported to have cytotoxic properties in tests with cancer cell lines. Juvenile hormones, which are known to regulate insect development, have also been extracted from its bark. Pierre noted that its soft, white wood can be used in woodworking to create vases, boxes, and tool handles.

References

{{Taxonbar, from1=Q17133513, from2=Q15399626 Annonaceae Flora of Cambodia Flora of Laos Flora of Malaya Flora of Myanmar Flora of Thailand Flora of Vietnam Traditional medicine Plants described in 1881 Taxa named by William Edwin Safford