白花梨果寄生 bai hua li guo ji sheng

Loranthus pulverulentus Wallich in Roxburgh, Fl. Ind. 2: 221. 1824; Cichlanthus pulverulentus (Wallich) Tieghem.

Shrubs 1-1.5 m tall, young branchlets tomentose with white stellate and verticillate hairs, soon mealy and then glabrous. Branches gray, glabrous, lenticellate. Leaves opposite; petiole 15-20 mm; leaf blade broadly ovate or ovate-oblong, 7-16 × 6-9 cm, thinly leathery, both surfaces whitish tomentose when young, glabrous when mature, lateral veins 4-6 pairs, base rounded to broadly cuneate, apex bluntly acute or slightly acuminate. Racemes solitary or 2- or 3-fascicled, axillary, 8-16-flowered; peduncle and rachis 25-35 mm, white stellate tomentose; bracts ovate, ca. 1 mm. Pedicel 5-6 mm. Calyx pyriform, ca. 3 mm, limb annular. Mature bud tubular, 3-4 cm, tip ellipsoid. Corolla cream or yellowish, slightly curved, densely tomentose with white verticillate hairs, these longer than those on stems and leaves, apical portion slightly inflated, lobes lanceolate, ca. 10 mm, reflexed. Filaments 2-3 mm; anthers ca. 5 mm. Style red; stigma capitate. Berry pyriform or clavate, 6-10 × ca. 5 mm, pubescent. Fl. and fr. Aug-Mar.

Thickets, mountain slopes, valleys; 300-1800 m. Yunnan [Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Thailand].

Recorded hosts include Litsea glutinosa, Mallotus philippinensis, Vitex quinata, and Ziziphus jujuba var. inermis. This species has been recorded as forming dense, damaging infestations of Citrus orchards in India and Nepal.