短柄胡椒 duan bing hu jiao

Climbers woody, glabrous except for rachis, dioecious. Stems black when dry, 2-3 mm thick, finely ridged. Petiole 1-2.2 cm; prophyll ca. 1/4 as long as petioles or longer; leaf blade elliptic, 9-13 × 4.5-7 cm, papery, finely glandular, base rounded, ± symmetric, apex acute and mucronate; veins 7, apical pair arising 1.5-3 cm above base, reaching leaf apex, others basal; reticulate veins prominent. Spikes leaf-opposed. Male inflorescences unknown. Female spikes 29-37 cm in fruit; peduncle slightly longer than petioles; bracts oblong, adnate to rachis, ca. 4-7 × 1.3-1.8 mm, base slightly tapered. Stigmas 3 or 4, lanceolate. Drupe globose, ca. 3 mm in diam., base tapered into short, thick stalk 1-2 mm. Fl. Oct-Jan.

* Valley forests, on trees; 800-1300 m. SW Yunnan