海南荛花 hai nan rao hua

Daphne hainanensis (Merrill) Halda.

Shrubs 1-3 m tall. Branches turning dark brown or purplish, terete, at first sparsely appressed puberulous. Leaves opposite; petiole 1-2 mm, glabrescent; leaf blade deep green adaxially, light green abaxially, ovate, elliptic, or oblong to broadly oblong-lanceolate, 2-10 × 1-3 cm, papery, both surfaces glabrous, base cuneate or subrounded, apex acute or minutely acuminate; lateral veins 8-12 pairs, conspicuous, slender. Inflorescences terminal, sometimes on lateral branches, subcapitate, rarely racemose, often 3-7-flowered; peduncle 0.3-0.4 cm, pubescent. Calyx yellow; tube 10-15 × ca. 1 mm, exterior glabrous; lobes 4, elliptic-ovate, 3-4 × 2-3 mm, apex obtuse. Stamens 8; filaments very short; anthers oblong, 1.5-2 mm. Disk very narrowly annular, with 1-4 scales; scales linear, ca. 1 mm. Ovary ellipsoid, 1-2 mm, glabrous; style very short; stigma capitate, subsessile. Drupe red, ellipsoid, 7-8 mm, enclosed by persistent calyx. Fl. May-Sep.

● Open forests, exposed shrubby slopes; low elevations. Hainan.