《中国植物志》|| 梧桐科 STERCULIACEAE ||银叶树属 Heritiera Dryand. ||银叶树 Heritiera littoralis Aiton

2.银叶树（中国树木分类学）图版39：1-5
Heritiera littoralis Dryand. in Ait. Hort. Kew. 3: 546. 1789; Benth. Fl. Hongk. 36. 1861; Gagnep. in Lecte. Fl. G6n. Indo-Chine 1: 485. 1911; Merr. in Lingn. Sci. Journ. 9: 40. 1930; 陈焕镛等, 海南植物志2: 76-77, 1965; 中国高等植物图鉴2: 826, 图3381, 1972.
常绿乔木，高约10米；树皮灰黑色，小枝幼时被白色鳞秕。叶革质，矩圆状披针形、椭圆形或卵形，长10-20厘米，宽5-10厘米，顶端锐尖或钝，基部钝，上面无毛或几无毛，下面密被银白色鳞秕；叶柄长1-2厘米；托叶披针形，早落。圆锥花序腋生，长约8厘米，密被星状毛和鳞秕；花红褐色；萼钟状，长4-6毫米，两面均被星状毛，5浅裂，裂片三角形，长约2毫米；雄花的花盘较薄，有乳头状突起，雌雄蕊柄短而无毛，花药4-5个在雌雄蕊柄顶端排成一环；雌花的心皮4-5枚，柱头与心皮同数且短而向下弯。果木质，坚果状，近椭圆形，光滑，干时黄褐色，长约6厘米，宽约3.5厘米，背部有龙骨状突起；种子卵形，长2厘米。花期夏季。
产广东（台山、崖县和沿海岛屿）、广西防城和台湾。印度、越南、柬埔寨、斯里兰卡、菲律宾和东南亚各地以及非洲东部、大洋洲均有分布。
本种为热带海岸红树林的树种之一。木材坚硬，为建筑、造船和制家具的良材。果木 质，内有厚的木栓状纤维层，故能漂浮在海面而散布到各地。

《Flora of China》|| Sterculiaceae || Heritiera ||银叶树 Heritiera littoralis

2. Heritiera littoralis Aiton, Hort. Kew. 3: 546. 1789.

银叶树 yin ye shu

Evergreen trees, up to 10(-15) m tall; bark gray-brown. Young branchlets white scurfy scaly. Stipules lanceolate, caducous; petiole 1-2 cm; leaf blade oblong-lanceolate, elliptic, or ovate, 10-20 × 5-10 cm, leathery, abaxially densely silver-white scurfy scaly, adaxially glabrous or nearly so, base obtuse, apex acute or obtuse. Inflorescence paniculate, axillary, ca. 8 cm, densely stellate hairy or with scales. Calyx red-brown, campanulate, 4-6 mm, both surfaces stellate hairy, lobes triangular,
ca. 2 mm. Male flowers: disk thin, papillate. Androgynophore short and glabrous. Anthers 4 or 5, in 1 ring. Female flowers: carpels 4 or 5. Stigmas as many as carpels, short and curved downward. Fruit nutlike, woody, drying yellow-brown, nearly ellipsoid, ca. 6 × 3.5 cm, keeled on back, glabrous. Seeds ovoid, ca. 2 cm. Fl. summer.

Mangrove forests. Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan, Taiwan [Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Vietnam; E Africa, Australia].

The hard, strong timber is used for ships’ masts when sufficiently straight and long, as well as for house posts, joists, wheel hubs, and boat ribs.