华中桑寄生 hua zhong sang ji sheng

Hyphear pseudo-odoratum (Lingelsheim) Danser.

Shrubs ca. 0.5 m tall, all parts glabrous. Branches not dichotomous, dull black, roughish, scattered lenticellate. Petiole 5-7 mm; leaf blade ovate to elliptic, 4-10 × 2-6 cm, papery, lateral veins 3-5 pairs, faint, base broadly cuneate and slightly decurrent, apex obtuse to rounded. Spikes solitary or 2- or 3-fascicled, axillary, 4-6(-10)-flowered, 1-2 cm; bracts ovate, concave, ca. 0.5 mm. Flowers bisexual, subopposite or opposite, 6-merous. Calyx ovoid, ca. 1 mm. Mature bud obovoid, ca. 2.5 mm. Corolla yellowish, petals lanceolate. Stamens inserted at bases of petals, filaments short; anthers 4-loculed, ca. 0.5 mm. Style ca. 2 mm, 6-angled; stigma obtuse. Berry yellowish, globose, ca. 4 mm. Fl. Feb-Mar, fr. Jul.

* Forests, mountain slopes; 1600-1900 m. Hubei, S Sichuan, SE Zhejiang.

The plants are parasitic on Fagaceae, including species of Castanopsis and Quercus.