楮 chu

Broussonetia kazinoki var. ruyangensis P. H. Ling & X. W. Wei; B. monoica Hance.

Shrubs 2-4 m tall, flowers always produced on leafy stems; monoecious. Branchlets obliquely spreading, pubescent when young, glabrescent. Stipules linear-lanceolate, 3-5 × 0.5-1 mm, apex acuminate. Petiole ca. 1 cm; leaf blade ovate to oblique-ovate, simple or 3-lobed, 3-7 × 3-4.5 cm, abaxially subglabrous, adaxially scabrous, base ± rounded to obliquely rounded, margin triangular serrate, apex attenuate to shortly acuminate. Male inflorescences globose, 0.8-1 cm in diam. Female inflorescences globose, pubescent. Male flowers: calyx 3- or 4-lobed, lobes triangular and adaxially pubescent; anthers elliptic. Female flowers: calyx pipelike, apically toothed, lobed, or entire; style 1, papillate at middle. Syncarp 0.8-1 cm in diam., with stellate clusters of stout strongly barbed hairs. Drupelets verrucate compressed; exocarp shell-like. Fl. Apr-May, fr. May-Jun.

Forest margins, low mountains, near houses. Anhui, Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hainan, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Sichuan, Taiwan, Yunnan, Zhejiang [Japan, Korea].