线梗胡椒 xian geng hu jiao

Climbers woody, glabrous except for rachis, dioecious. Stems 1-2 mm thick. Petiole 0.6-2 cm; prophylls ca. 1/2 as long as petioles, sometimes longer or shorter; leaf blades toward base of stem ovate, 5-6 × 3.5-4.5 cm, thinly papery, finely glandular, base rounded, ± symmetric, apex acuminate; veins 5-7, apical pair arising 0-7 mm above base, others basal; leaf blades toward apex of stem ovate-lanceolate or narrowly elliptic, 6-9 × 2-3.5 cm, base gradually tapered or cuneate, rarely rounded, usually emarginate, sinus narrower than petiole, apex caudate-acuminate. Spikes leaf-opposed. Male spikes ca. 5 cm × 2 mm; peduncle ca. 4 × as long as petioles of leaves toward apex of stem; bracts ovate, sometimes base slightly tapered, ca. 1 mm wide, peltate, sessile. Stamens 2, large; filaments slightly thicker than anthers; anthers globose. Female spikes subglobose, ca. 1 cm diam. in fruit; peduncle ca. 3.5 × as long as infructescences; bracts suborbicular, otherwise as in male spikes. Stigmas 3 or 4, ovoid. Drupe drying black, globose, ca. 4 mm in diam., partly immersed in rachis. Fl. Oct, fr. May.

* Forests, on trees; 2100-2700 m. SW Yunnan