Sterculia lanceolata Cav.

This species is the most widely distributed member of the genus in the Flora area. The bark fiber is used for making bags and paper.

Trees. Branchlets at first pilose. Petiole 2.5-3.5 cm; leaf blade elliptic, lanceolate, or elliptic-lanceolate, 9-20 × 3.5-8 cm, abaxially nearly glabrous, adaxially glabrous, lateral veins 7-9 on each side of midrib, curved upward, connected near margin, base obtuse or nearly rounded, apex acute. Inflorescence paniculate, 4-10 cm, densely many-branched. Calyx reddish, divided almost to base, pubescent abaxially, lobes oblong-lanceolate or oblong-elliptic, 4-6 mm, stellately spreading, margins ciliate, apex obtuse or minutely mucronate. Male flowers: androgynophore 2-3 mm, curved. Anthers ca. 10. Female flowers: ovary globose, hairy. Style curved; stigma minutely 5-lobed. Follicle red when fresh, narrowly ovoid or ellipsoid, 5-7 × 2-2.5 cm, 2-4-seeded, densely puberulent, base attenuate, apex beaked. Seeds black-brown, ellipsoid-ovoid, ca. 1 cm. Fl. Apr-Jun.

Usually near streams. Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, S Sichuan, Yunnan [Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam].

?Helicteres undulata Loureiro; Sterculia balansae Aug. Candolle.

Sterculia lanceolata is a tree species, belonging to the genus Sterculia and the family Malvaceae (previously the Sterculiaceae, now relegated to a subfamily). The species can be found in southern China (including Hainan island) and Vietnam (where it is variously known as: trôm mề gà, sang sé, sảng, trôm lá mác, trôm thon, che van, chóc móc or tròm thon).