草珊瑚 cao shan hu

Bladhia glabra Thunberg, Trans. Linn. Soc. London 2: 331. 1794; Ardisia glabra (Thunberg) de Candolle; Chloranthus glaber (Thunberg) Makino.

Subshrubs, evergreen, 50-150 cm tall. Stems cylindric, erect, glabrous, nodes swollen. Stipules subulate; petioles 0.5-2 cm; leaf blade elliptic or ovate to ovate-lanceolate, or broadly elliptic to oblong, 6-20 × 2-8 cm, leathery or papery, glandular mucronate on marginal teeth, glabrous, base acute, cuneate, or broadly cuneate, margin sharply coarsely-serrate or dully serrate except basally, apex acute to acuminate; lateral veins 5-7, slightly prominent on both surfaces. Inflorescences terminal, usually branched, ± in spikes, 1.5-4 cm with peduncles; bracts triangular or ovate. Flowers yellowish green. Stamen 1, fleshy, baculate to terete or ovoid; anther 2-loculed, thecae lateral or sometimes introrse, on both sides of apical part of connective or nearly as long as connective. Ovary globose or ovoid; style absent; stigma subcapitate or minutely spotted. Drupes green when young, shiny red or yellowish red at maturity, globose (3-4 mm in diam.) or ovoid (ca. 4 mm). 2n = 30*.

Forests, thickets, valleys, ravines, slopes, roadsides, trailsides, grasslands, swamps, streamsides, sandy soil; near sea level to 2000 m. Anhui, Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hainan, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi, Sichuan, Taiwan, Yunnan, Zhejiang [Cambodia, India, Japan (including Ryukyu Islands), Korea, Laos, Malaysia, Philippines, Sri Lanka, N Thailand, Vietnam]

Used medicinally and for tea.

Lower Taxa

• Sarcandra glabra subsp. brachystachys (Blume) Verdcourt
• Sarcandra glabra subsp. glabra