密花火棘 mi hua huo ji

Shrubs. Branches with short thorns 1–2 cm; branchlets purplish brown when old, densely rusty tomentose when young, glabrous when old. Leaves dense, fasciculate on short branchlets; petiole short, not more than 2 mm, subglabrous; leaf blade obovate to obovate-elliptic, 1–1.8 cm × 6–9 mm, abaxially brown tomentose, glabrescent, adaxially lustrous, base cuneate, margin crenulate, apex obtuse or truncate. Inflorescences 1.5–2.5 cm; 6–10-flowered; peduncle absent; bracts caducous, lanceolate. Pedicel densely rusty tomentose. Flowers 0.8–1.2 cm in diam. Hypanthium campanulate, abaxially densely rusty tomentose. Sepals triangular, 1.5–2 mm, abaxially rusty tomentose, apex obtuse. Petals ovate, 4–6 × 3–4 mm, apex rounded or obtuse. Stamens 20; filaments shorter than petals, 1.5–2 mm. Ovary densely white tomentose; styles nearly as long as stamens. Pome not seen. Fl. Jun–Jul.

Thickets; ca. 1000 m. NW Guangxi (Longlin Gezu Zizhixian).