Idesia Maxim. (1866) in the family Flacourtiaceae, consists of 1 species, Idesia polycarpa Maxim. from eastern Asia.

Description Tree to 20m, with spreading branches. The leaves are deciduous, the blade heart-shaped, 10–20cm long, whitish and papillose beneath; the stalks long, with conspicuous nectaries. The flowers are in much-branched sprays and unisexual or bisexual. Bisexual flowers have 5 yellowish, downy sepals, no petals, numerous stamens with downy filaments, and 3–5 styles on a 1-celled ovary with usually 5 fused carpels. Male flowers have a vestigial ovary and females have short staminodes and a normal ovary. Pollination is perhaps by insects or perhaps by wind. The fruits are conspicuous, red or black berries with numerous seeds.

Key Recognition Features The long-stalked, large, heart-shaped leaves with 2 nectaries, and the branching sprays of flowers and fruit.

Evolution and Relationships Both Carrieria Franch. and Poliothyrsis have rather similar leaves and flowers with numerous stamens, but both have capsules.

Ecology and Geography Found in woods and scrub, often by streams, from western Sichuan in China eastwards to Taiwan, on Quelpart Island, and in Japan.

Comment An attractive, quite fast-growing tree, hardy as far north as New York and southern England. Though usually reported to be dioecious, our specimen has both bisexual and male flowers. The downy leaved var. vestita Diels is likely to be hardier than the type. The name commemorates E.Y. Ides (fl. 1720), a Dutch traveller in China. Z5.