# Actinodaphne

Actinodaphne is an Asian genus of flowering plants in the laurel family (Lauraceae). It contains approximately 125 species of dioecious evergreen trees and shrubs.
Species range across tropical and subtropical regions of South Asia, Southeast Asia, southern China, Japan, New Guinea, Queensland, Solomon Islands, and Fiji. There are 17 Chinese species, 13 of which are endemic.

## Description

The trees are 3 to 25 m tall, with leaves usually clustered or nearly verticillate, rarely alternate or opposite, unlobed, pinninerved, and rarely triplinerved. The flowers are star-shaped, small, and greenish. The flowers are clustered or whorled and are unisexual. Umbels are solitary or clustered or arranged in a panicle or raceme; involucral bracts are imbricated and caducous. The perianth tube is short; perianth segments usually number six in two whorls of three each, nearly equal, and rarely persistent. The male flowers have fertile stamens usually 9 in three whorls of three each; filaments of the first and second whorls are eglandular, and of the third whorl are biglandular at the base; anthers are all introrse and four-celled; cells opening by lids; the rudimentary pistil is small or lacking. The female flowers has staminodes as many as stamens of male flowers; the ovary is superior; the stigma is shield-shaped or dilated. The fruit is a berry-like drupe seated on shallow or deep, cup-shaped or discoid, perianth tube. It has a small single seed dispersed mostly by birds.

## Ecology

Actinodaphne species require continuously moist soil, and do not tolerate drought and frost. The laurel trees fall within the broad-leaved forests; mid-montane deciduous forests; and high-montane mixed stunted forests. Some species grow in high-elevation forests at 1,500–3,300 m (4,900–10,800 ft).

## Species

125 species of Actinodaphne are accepted. They include:
* Actinodaphne acuminata (Blume) Meisn. – central and southern Japan, Ryukyu Islands, and Taiwan
* Actinodaphne albifrons Kosterm. – Sri Lanka
* Actinodaphne amabilis Kosterm. – Thailand
* Actinodaphne ambigua Hook.f. – Sri Lanka
* Actinodaphne andamanica M.Gangop. – Andaman Islands
* Actinodaphne angustifolia (Blume) Nees – Nepal to Thailand, Peninsular Malaysia, Sumatra, Java, and Sulawesi
* Actinodaphne apoensis (Elmer) Kosterm. ex Brambach & Pelser – Philippines (Mindanao).
* Actinodaphne archboldiana C.K.Allen – New Guinea
* Actinodaphne areolata Blume – Java
* Actinodaphne bicolor (Merr.) Merr. – Philippines
* Actinodaphne borneensis Meisn. – Peninsular Malaysia and Borneo
* Actinodaphne bourdillonii Gamble – southern India
* Actinodaphne bourneae Gamble – southern India
* Actinodaphne brassii C.K.Allen – Solomon Islands
* Actinodaphne caesia Teschner – New Guinea
* Actinodaphne campanulata Hook.f. – southern India
* Actinodaphne candolleana (Thwaites) Meisn. – Sri Lanka
* Actinodaphne celebica Miq. – Sulawesi
* Actinodaphne cinerea Elmer – Philippines (Palawan)
* Actinodaphne concinna Ridl. – Peninsular Malaysia
* Actinodaphne concolor Nees – Myanmar
* Actinodaphne corymbosa Blume – Sumatra
* Actinodaphne crassa Hand.-Mazz. – China (Hunan)
* Actinodaphne cupularis (Hemsl.) Gamble – southern China to Thailand
* Actinodaphne diversifolia Merr. – Borneo
* Actinodaphne dolichophylla (Merr.) Merr. – southern Philippines
* Actinodaphne elegans Thwaites – Sri Lanka
* Actinodaphne ellipticibacca Kosterm. – northern Vietnam
* Actinodaphne engleriana Teschner – New Guinea
* Actinodaphne ferruginea H.Liu – southern Vietnam
* Actinodaphne forrestii (C.K.Allen) Kosterm. – southern China (Yunnan, Guangxi, and Guizhou) and Vietnam
* Actinodaphne fragilis Gamble – Peninsular Malaysia
* Actinodaphne fuliginosa Airy Shaw – Borneo
* Actinodaphne furfuracea Blume – Borneo
* Actinodaphne glabra Blume – Borneo and Java
* Actinodaphne glauca Nees – Sri Lanka
* Actinodaphne glaucina C.K.Allen – Hainan
* Actinodaphne glomerata (Blume) Nees – Peninsular Thailand, Peninsular Malaysia, Sumatra, Java, Borneo, Lesser Sunda Islands, and Sulawesi
* Actinodaphne gracilis Miq. – Sumatra
* Actinodaphne henryi Gamble – China (southern Yunnan) to northern Indochina
* Actinodaphne hirsuta Blume – Java
* Actinodaphne hypoleucophylla Hayata – southern China and central Taiwan
* Actinodaphne intermedia (Elmer) Kosterm. ex Brambach & Pelser – Philippines
* Actinodaphne javanica Miq. – Java
* Actinodaphne johorensis Gamble – Peninsular Malaysia
* Actinodaphne junghuhnii Stur – Sumatra
* Actinodaphne kinabaluensis Kosterm. – Borneo
* Actinodaphne koshepangii Chun ex Hung T.Chang – China (northwestern Guangdong and western Hunan)
* Actinodaphne kostermansii S.Julia – Borneo (Sabah and Brunei)
* Actinodaphne kweichowensis Yen C.Yang & P.H.Huang – China (southwest Guangxi and southwest Guizhou)
* Actinodaphne lambirensis Tagane, Yahara & N.Okabe – Borneo (Sarawak)
* Actinodaphne lanata Meisn. – southern India
* Actinodaphne lanceolata Dalzell & A.Gibson – western India
* Actinodaphne latifolia Teschner – New Guinea
* Actinodaphne lawsonii Gamble – southern India
* Actinodaphne lecomtei C.K.Allen – China (Sichuan, Guizhou, and northern Guangdong)
* Actinodaphne ledermannii Teschner – New Guinea
* Actinodaphne leiophylla (Kurz) Hook.f. – southern Myanmar
* Actinodaphne longipes Kosterm. – Nepal to eastern India, Vietnam
* Actinodaphne macgregorii (Merr.) Kosterm. – Philippines and Solomon Islands
* Actinodaphne macrophylla (Blume) Nees – Peninsular Malaysia, Java, and Queensland
* Actinodaphne macroptera Miq. – Andaman Islands and Sumatra
* Actinodaphne madraspatana Bedd. ex Hook.f. – southern India
* Actinodaphne malaccensis Hook.f. – Peninsular Malaysia
* Actinodaphne mansonii M.Gangop. – Myanmar
* Actinodaphne menghaiensis J.Li – China (southern Yunnan)
* Actinodaphne molochina Nees – Sri Lanka
* Actinodaphne moluccana Blume – Maluku
* Actinodaphne montana Gamble – Peninsular Thailand and Peninsular Malaysia
* Actinodaphne moonii Thwaites – Sri Lanka
* Actinodaphne multiflora Benth. – Solomon Islands
* Actinodaphne mushanensis (Hayata) Hayata – Taiwan
* Actinodaphne myriantha Merr. – Borneo
* Actinodaphne nicobarica M.Gangop. – Nicobar Islands
* Actinodaphne nitida Teschner – New Guinea and Solomon Islands
* Actinodaphne notabilis Doweld – Peninsular Malaysia
* Actinodaphne novoguineensis Teschner – New Guinea
* Actinodaphne obovata (Nees) Blume – central Himalayas to China (southern and southeastern Yunnan)
* Actinodaphne obscurinervia Yen C.Yang & P.H.Huang – China (eastern Sichuan)
* Actinodaphne obtusa Teschner – New Guinea
* Actinodaphne oleifolia Gamble – Peninsular Malaysia
* Actinodaphne omeiensis (H.Liu) C.K.Allen – China (Sichuan, Guizhou) and southwestern Thailand
* Actinodaphne paotingensis Yen C.Yang & P.H.Huang – Hainan
* Actinodaphne pauciflora Blume – Borneo
* Actinodaphne pedunculata (Blume) Meisn. – southeastern China
* Actinodaphne percoriacea S.Julia – Borneo
* Actinodaphne perglabra Kosterm. – eastern Thailand
* Actinodaphne perlucida C.K.Allen – southern Vietnam
* Actinodaphne pilosa (Lour.) Merr. – China (Guangxi, Guangdong, and Hainan), Laos, and Vietnam
* Actinodaphne pisifera Hook.f. – Sri Lanka
* Actinodaphne procera Nees – Java and Nicobar Islands
* Actinodaphne pruinosa Nees – Peninsular Malaysia and Borneo
* Actinodaphne pubescens Blume – Java
* Actinodaphne pulchra Teschner – New Guinea
* Actinodaphne quercina Blume – Java
* Actinodaphne ramosii Brambach & Pelser – Philippines
* Actinodaphne rehderiana (C.K.Allen) Kosterm. ex Dao – northern Vietnam
* Actinodaphne reticulata Meisn. – Assam
* Actinodaphne ridleyi Gamble – Borneo and Peninsular Malaysia (Johor)
* Actinodaphne robusta S.Julia – Borneo
* Actinodaphne rufescens Blume – Borneo
* Actinodaphne rumphii Blume – Maluku
* Actinodaphne salicina Meisn. – southern India
* Actinodaphne samarensis (Merr.) Merr. – southern Philippines
* Actinodaphne scleroptera Miq. – Sumatra
* Actinodaphne semengohensis S.Julia – Borneo
* Actinodaphne sesquipedalis Hook.f. & Thomson ex Meisn. – Myanmar, Andaman Islands, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Andaman Islands, Peninsular Malaysia, and Borneo
* Actinodaphne shendurunii Robi & Udayan – India (Kerala)
* Actinodaphne sikkimensis Meisn. – Nepal to eastern India, Myanmar, and Thailand
* Actinodaphne soepadmoi S.Julia – Peninsular Malaysia and Borneo
* Actinodaphne solomonensis C.K.Allen – Solomon Islands
* Actinodaphne spathulifolia S.Julia – Borneo
* Actinodaphne speciosa Nees – Sri Lanka
* Actinodaphne stenophylla Thwaites – Sri Lanka
* Actinodaphne sulcata S.Julia – Borneo
* Actinodaphne superba Boerl. – Borneo and Sulawesi
* Actinodaphne tadulingamii Gamble – western and southern India
* Actinodaphne tayabensis (Elmer) Merr. – Philippines
* Actinodaphne tomentosa Teschner – New Guinea
* Actinodaphne tonkinensis Dao – Vietnam
* Actinodaphne trichocarpa C.K.Allen – China (Sichuan, northeastern Yunnan, and Guizhou)
* Actinodaphne tsaii Hu – China (southern and southeastern Yunnan)
* Actinodaphne venosa S.Julia – Borneo
* Actinodaphne wightiana (Kuntze) Noltie – Borneo

### Formerly placed here

* Litsea ligustrina (Nees) Fern.-Vill. (as Actinodaphne quinqueflora Nees) – Bangladesh, southwestern India, Myanmar, northeastern Pakistan, Sri Lanka