扁序重寄生 bian xu chong ji sheng

Phacellaria ferruginea W. W. Smith; P. wattii J. D. Hooker.

Plants usually to 20 cm tall. Stems unbranched or with very few branches, sparse (not dense), flat or mostly flattened, 1-4 mm thick, ferruginous-tomentose, later gradually deciduous and with rudimentary tomentum at the base of flower clusters. Flowers unisexual (plants usually dioecious), in dense, elongated clusters; bracts imbricate, ovate or obovate, ca. 0.8 × 0.5 mm, apex acuminate; bracteoles numerous, forming involucre, small. Male flowers oblate, ca. 1 × 1.5 mm; perianth divided to base, lobes 5-8, erect or slightly patent, shortly triangular, ca. 1 × 1 mm; filaments short and flat. Female flowers: perianth obovoid, ca. 2 × 1.5 mm, lobes 5, triangular, ca. 0.5 mm. Discs nearly flat. Style short; stigmas truncate. Drupe ovoid-ellipsoid, 4-6 × 1.5-4 mm, glabrous, apex with persistent perianth. Fl. May, fr. Oct.

Forests; 500-1800 m. Guangxi, Sichuan, Xizang, Yunnan [Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam].

This species is usually epiparasitic on Taxillus chinensis, other species of Taxillus, and sometimes Dendrotrophe.