Xylosma longifolia
Xylosma longifolia, known by numerous common names in different cultures, is a species of flowering plant in the willow family Salicaceae. It is native to areas from India to China and mainland Southeast Asia, where it occurs in moist tropical and subtropical forests. It is a small tree or shrub, and is widely used in traditional medicines.
Description
Trunk and foliage
Xylosma longifolia is an evergreen shrub or tree, typically reaching in height. Its gray-brown bark is scented, and the trunk may bear simple or branched spines, though they vary. Branchlets are glabrous, often armed with axillary spines, and exhibit sympodial growth. The leaves are simple, alternate, and stipule-absent, with a short petiole measuring and a leathery blade measuring by. Leaf shape varies from narrowly elliptic, oblong-elliptic, oblong-lanceolate, to narrowly obovate, but are typically lanceolate, featuring an acute, cuneate, or rarely obtuse base, serrate edges, and an acuminate tip with a acumen. Lateral veins number 6–11 pairs, prominently raised on both surfaces.Flowers
Flowers are unisexual, hypogynous, bracteate, and greenish, measuring in diameter. They are borne in short racemes or reduced panicles, either singly or in condensed clusters within leaf axils. The rachis is long, glabrous or puberulous. Pedicels are slender, puberulous, and long. Bracts are ovate in staminate flowers and lanceolate in pistillate flowers, measure, and glabrous or sparsely puberulous. Sepals, numbering 4–5, are persistent, ovate or lanceolate,, glabrous or sparsely puberulous abaxially, entirely glabrous adaxially, with entire to erose margins. Petals are absent in both male and female flowers. Staminate flowers feature minute,, ellipsoid, dorsifixed anthers and a glandular disk with small, connate glands. Pistillate flowers possess an annular or few-lobed disk, an ovoid superior ovary, measuring roughly with 2–3 placentas, each bearing 2–3 ovules. Styles, numbering 2–3, are very short, measuring or less and may be partly or completely joined.Fruit
The fruit is a globose, dry berry, in diameter, glabrous, and crustaceous, enclosed in a thin sheath without dark streaks. Initially red when ripe, it dries to black, with the persistent calyx, disk, and style remaining attached. Fruiting pedicels are slender, long. Seeds, numbering 4–5, are brown, measure roughly long, ovoid, and flattened on one or more sides due to mutual compression. Flowering occurs from April to May, with fruiting from June to October.Distribution
It is native to the following regions as defined in the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions:- China: China South-Central, China Southeast
- Eastern Asia: Hainan
- Indian Subcontinent: Assam, East Himalaya, India, Nepal, Pakistan, West Himalaya
- Indo-China: Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam
Ecology
Taxonomy
Xylosma longifolia was first described by Nathaniel Wallich in 1845 as Flacourtia ferox, although it used a different type specimen. The original taxon was superseded in 1857 by Dominique Clos with Xylosma longifolium. Later, the genus underwent a grammatical gender concordance, initiated by William T. Stearn in 1992 when he questioned the genus’s gender, and finalized by Dan Henry Nicolson in 1994, putting Xylosma longifolia in agreement with the genus name. The collective number of synonyms across different sources is approximately 15.Historically, Xylosma longifolia was placed in Flacourtiaceae under older classification systems such as those of Cronquist and Takhtajan. Eventually, Flacourtiaceae, including this taxon, were reclassified into Salicaceae, a placement adopted by the APG III system and subsequently recognized by Plants of [the World Online], though this classification remains disputed.
Etymology
Due to its wide geographic distribution, Xylosma longifolia is known by numerous common names across different regions. In India alone, names vary by language and locale; notably known by chirundi, dandal, dieng-kani, godya, katari, kataponial, kandhara, mota-koli, nongleishang, katpatra, pansra, phalama, and sialu. In China, it is commonly called cháng yè zhà mù or cháng yè zuò mù, while in Pakistan it is known as batti. In English, the plant is referred to as long-leaved xylosma or longleaf logwood.The genus name Xylosma derives from , meaning "wood" or "tree," and , meaning "smell," overall referring to the aromatic wood found in some species. The species epithet longifolia means "long-leaved", in reference to the length of the foliage of this species.