Macaranga lowii King ex Hook. fil.

Trees 5-15 m tall. Branchlets pubescent when young, glabrescent. Stipules subulate, 2.5-3 mm, deciduous; petiole 2-3.5 cm, sparsely villous; leaf blade elliptic to broadly lanceolate, 8-16 × 3-6 cm, thickly papery, abaxially sparsely glandular-scaly, pilose along midrib, base rounded to cuneate, minutely auriculate-cordate, with 2 or 4 glands, margin entire or repand, apex acuminate; veins 8-10 pairs. Male inflorescences unbranched or sparsely branched, 6-9 cm, pilose; bracts ovate, 2-3 mm, pilose, rarely some bracts lanceolate, filiform, 1-2 cm. Male flowers 5-7 per bract; pedicel ca. 1.5 mm, pubescent; sepals 3 or 4, ovate, pilose; stamens 12-16. Female inflorescences unbranched, 4-6 cm, pilose; bracts 4-7, lower bracts leaflike, lanceolate to ovate, 1-1.2 cm, glabrous, other bracts deltoid-ovate, ca. 1 mm, pilose. Female flower solitary; pedicel 1-2(-6) mm, pubescent; sepals 3 or 4, lanceolate, ca. 2 mm, pilose, persistent; ovary softly spiny; styles 2, filiform, 7-12 mm, basally connate. Fruiting pedicel 2-4 mm; capsule 2-lobed, to 12 mm wide, sparsely softly spiny and blackish glandular scaly. Seeds subglobose, ca. 5 mm in diam., black-brownish, marbled. Fl. Jan-May, fr. May-Jun.

S Fujian, Guangdong, S Guangxi, Hainan [Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam].

Mountain slopes, forests; 100-500 m.

Macaranga auriculata (Merrill) Airy Shaw; M. lowii var. kostermansii Airy Shaw; M. poilanei Gagnepain; Mallotus affinis Merrill; M. auriculatus Merrill; M. tsiangii Merrill & Chun.