Table 7.
Differentiating features of the species Michelia rubriflora and M. mediocris.
| Plant feature | Michelia rubriflora Y.W. Law & R.Z. Zhou | Michelia mediocris Dandy |
| tree dimensions | to 15 m × 25 cm dbh | 35 m x 90 cm dbh† (30 m x 190 cm dbh)‡ |
| indumentum of buds | greyish-white or pale brown appressed pilose | rufous appressed puberulent¶ |
| indumentum of branchlets | greyish-white or pale brown appressed pilose | appressed grey or yellowish-brown tomentose |
| leaf shape | ovate-elliptic | elliptic or elliptic-oblong |
| leaf dimensions | 5–9 × 2.5–3.5 cm | 6–13 × 3–5 cm§ |
| leaf indumentum abaxially | greyish-white or pale brown appressed pilose | initially appressed greyish pubescent (greyish-white appressed puberulent)¶ |
| leaf texture | leathery | thinly leathery¶ |
| lateral leaf veins | 9–11 either side of midrib | 12–15 either side of midrib |
| stipular scars | 1–2 mm long | none¶ |
| petiole length and indumentum | 1–2.5 cm, greyish-white or pale brown appressed pilose | 1.5–3 cm§, initially appressed grey tomentellous, then glabrescent |
| tepal number /colour | 9, red | 9–10#, white¶ |
| tepal size and shape | 2.5–3.5 × 1.0–1.2 cm, lanceolate | 1.8–2.2 × 0.5–0.8 cm, spathulate§ |
| stamen length /colour | 1.5–1.7 cm, red | 1.0–1.5 cm§, yellowish-green |
| gynophore | not exserted above androecium | extended well above androecium (illustration)¶ |
| flowering period | October–November | December–January¶ [China] February–March # [Vietnam] |
| fruiting period | October–November of the next year | August–September ¶ [China] September–October# [Vietnam] of the same year |
The differentiating features of Michelia rubriflora are from F.G. Wang et al. (2005) and those of M. mediocris are from Dandy (1928a), supplemented by Chen and Nooteboom (1993: 1073)†, Deng and Yang (2015: 142)‡, Law et al. (1996: 180)§, Liu et al. (2004: 292)¶, Sam et al. (2004)#.