金钟花 jin zhong hua

Rangium viridissimum (Lindley) Ohwi.

Shrubs glabrous except for calyx lobes. Branches upright, to 3 m; branchlets green or yellow-green; pith lamellate. Leaves simple; petiole 6-12 mm; leaf blade long elliptic to lanceolate or long obovate-elliptic, 3.5-15 × 1-4 cm, subleathery, base cuneate, margin serrate or entire along distal half, apex acute. Flowers 1-3(-4) in leaf axils. Pedicel 3-7 mm. Calyx lobes broadly ovate or elliptic, 2-4 mm, ciliate. Corolla deep yellow outside, tinged with orange-yellow stripes inside; tube 5-6 mm; lobes narrowly oblong, 0.6-1.8 cm, revolute. Pistil 5.5-7 mm in flowers with stamens 3.5-5 mm or ca. 3 mm in flowers with stamens 6-7 mm. Capsule ovoid, 1-1.5 cm × 6-10 mm, lenticellate; stalk 3-7 mm. Fl. Mar-Apr, fr. Aug-Nov.

* Ravines, margin of woods near river valleys, streamsides. Anhui, Fujian, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, NW Yunnan, Zhejiang

Widely cultivated in all parts except for S China.