Vernicia fordii

Vernicia fordii
Conservation status
Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Eudicots
Clade:	Rosids
Order:	Malpighiales
Family:	Euphorbiaceae
Genus:	Vernicia
Species:	V. fordii
Binomial name
Vernicia fordii (Hemsl.) Airy Shaw
Synonyms
Aleurites fordii Hemsl.

Vernicia fordii (usually known as the tung tree (Chinese: 桐, tóng) and also as the tung-oil or tungoil tree (油桐), the kalo nut tree, and the China wood-oil tree) is a species of flowering plant in the spurge family Euphorbiaceae.^[2][3] It is native to southern China, Myanmar, and northern Vietnam.^[4] It is a small to medium-sized deciduous tree growing to 20 m tall, with a spreading crown. The bark is smooth and thin, and bleeds latex if cut. The leaves are alternate, simple, 4.5–25 cm long and 3.5–22 cm broad, heart-shaped or with three shallow, maple-like lobes, green above and below, red conspicuous glands at the base of the leaf, and with a 5.5–26 cm long petiole. The flowers are 2.5–3.5 cm diameter, with five pale pink to purple petals with streaks of darker red or purple in the throat; it is monoecious with individual flowers either male or female, but produced together in the inflorescences. The flowers appear before or with the leaves in loose, terminal clusters. The fruit is a hard, woody pear-shaped berry 4–6 cm long and 3–5 cm diameter, containing four or five large, oily seeds; it is green initially, becoming dull brown when ripe in autumn.^[4][5]