疏刺茄 shu ci qie

Shrubs erect, 50-100 cm tall, often armed; pubescence of stellate hairs. Stems usually stellate pubescent, glabrescent, unarmed or with stout-based straight prickles ca. 1 mm. Petiole 1-4.5 cm; leaf blade narrowly ovate or oblong-ovate, 3-10 × 1.5-5 cm, with branched, short, stellate hairs adaxially and dense, long-stalked, 7-9-rayed stellate hairs abaxially, base cuneate, margin entire or subentire, apex obtuse. Inflorescences extra-axillary, rarely appearing terminal, scorpioid-racemose, 3-6 cm. Pedicel 5-10 mm. Calyx campanulate, 4-6 × 5-6 mm, tomentose with many-rayed stellate hairs; lobes deltate, unequal, 1-2 mm. Corolla blue-purple, 0.8-1.2 × 1-1.3 cm, stellate hairy abaxially; lobes ovate-deltate, unequal, 4-6 mm. Filaments 0.5-1 mm; anthers 4-6 mm. Style ca. 7 mm. Berry globose, ca. 1 cm in diam., glabrous. Seeds reniform-discoid, 1.5-2 mm in diam., reticulate. Fl. and fr. throughout the year.

* Forests, thickets; 100-300 m. Hainan.