南桑寄生 nan sang ji sheng

Shrubs deciduous, 0.5-1 m tall, all parts glabrous. Branches usually dichotomous, branchlets dull black and glaucous. Petiole 2-3 mm; leaf blade ovate or elliptic, 3.5-5 × 2-2.5 cm, papery or thinly leathery, base cuneate and slightly decurrent, apex obtuse or acute; lateral veins 3-5 pairs, faint. Spikes terminal, 8-16-flowered, 2.5-4 cm; bracts ovate, concave, ca. 1 mm. Flowers bisexual, opposite or subopposite, 6-merous. Calyx ovoid, ca. 1 mm. Mature bud obovoid. Corolla greenish, petals spreading, lanceolate, 3-4 mm. Filaments ca. 0.5 mm, free from middle of petals; anthers 4-loculed, ca. 1 mm. Style ca. 2.5 mm, slightly 6-angled; stigma obtuse. Berry greenish, ovoid, 4-5 × 2.5-3 mm. Fl. May-Jun, fr. Jul-Aug.

* Forests, mountain valleys; 100-1400 m. E and N Guangdong, Guangxi, S Guizhou, S Hunan, E Yunnan.

Recorded hosts include Platycarya strobilacea and Quercus myrsinifolia.