墨竹柳 mo zhu liu

Shrubs to 2 m tall. Older branchlets black, stout, glabrous; juvenile branchlets villous. Leaves petiolate; leaf blade elliptic or long elliptic, 1.5-3.5 × 0.8-1.4 cm, abaxially pale, pruinose, adaxially green, villous or pubescent along midvein, base cuneate to shallowly cordate, margin entire or indistinctly serrate, apex obtuse or rounded; lateral veins 6-8 each side of abaxially raised midvein. Male catkin 1.5-2.5 cm × 5-6 mm (not including elongate filaments); peduncle to 9 mm, with leaflets; bracts yellowish brown or dull brown, obovate, adaxially white villous, apex rounded to truncate. Male flower: stamens 2, ca. 5 mm; filaments distinct, densely villous proximally; glands 2, adaxial gland ± 2-cleft, ca. 0.5 mm. Female catkin with bracts broadly obovate, abaxially glabrous or sparsely white villous proximally, adaxially villous, apex rounded. Female flower: adaxial gland ovate-lanceolate, ca. 1 mm, 2-lobed; ovary ellipsoid, ca. 3 mm, glabrous, rarely partly villous; stipe ca. 0.5 mm; style stout, ca. 2-lobed; stigma 2-cleft.

* Mountain slopes; circa 4200 m. E Xizang (Maizhokunggar to Wusi River)