黄山紫荆 huang shan zi jing

Shrubs, 2-6 m tall. Bark light gray, smooth. Branchlets grayish white at first, blackish brown when dry, with numerous, dense, small lenticels, brownish puberulent when young, gla­brescent with age. Petiole 1.5-3 cm, slightly thickened at both ends; leaf blade brownish when dry, ovate-orbicular or reni­form, 5-11 × 5-12 cm, subleathery, abaxially puberulent on principal veins and in axils of veins at base, principal veins 5, raised abaxially, base cordate or truncate, apex acute with a 5-8 mm mucro or rounded without mucro. Flower clusters borne on old branches, light purplish red, becoming whitish. Calyx 5.5-6 mm. Petals ca. 1 cm. Legumes 7-8.5 × ca. 1.3 cm, thickly leath­ery, valves twisting upon dehiscence, wing absent, stipe absent; beak robust, ca. 8 × 2 mm, hard. Seeds 3-6, embedded in thick, slightly white (brown when dry), spongy pulp. Fl. Feb-Mar, fr. Sep-Oct. 2n = 14*.

● Sparse forests, shrubby areas, roadsides, cultivated in gardens; low elevations. Anhui, N Guangdong, Zhejiang.