茶荚蒾 cha jia mi

Viburnum bodinieri H. Léveillé; V. setigerum var. sulcatum P. S. Hsu; V. theiferum Rehder.

Shrubs, deciduous, to 4 m tall. Bark light brown. Winter buds and leaves black, black-brown, or gray-black when dry. Branchlets of current year grayish yellow, glabrous; branchlets of previous year gray, gray-brown, or purple-brown, terete, glabrous, with dispersed, small, rounded lenticels. Winter buds oblong, usually less than 5 mm, to 1 cm at most, with 2 pairs of separate scales, outer ones 1/3-1/2 as long as inner ones; scales glabrous. Leaves always opposite, not clustered at apices of branchlets; stipules absent; petiole green, slender, 1-1.5(-2.5) cm, sparsely adpressed long hairy or subglabrous; leaf blade green when young, ovate-oblong to ovate-lanceolate, rarely ovate to elliptic-ovate, 7-12(-15) × 3-5.5 cm, papery, abaxially yellowish adpressed long hairy only on midvein and lateral veins, adaxially long hairy, glabrescent, midvein raised abaxially, lateral veins 6-8-jugate, pinnate, straight, rarely branched, ending in teeth, conspicuously raised abaxially, slightly impressed adaxially, veinlets transverse, slightly raised abaxially, impressed adaxially, not lobed, base rounded, with 1 or 2 circular glands on both sides of midvein near base, margin remotely serrate except at base, apex acuminate. Flowers appearing after leaves; inflorescence a compound umbel-like cyme, often nodding, terminal, 2.5-4(-5) cm in diam.; rays whorled; first node of inflorescence usually with 5 rays, dense, glabrous or sparsely adpressed long hairy, without large sterile radiant flowers; peduncles 1-2.5(-3.5) cm; bracts and bracteoles deciduous, leaflike, green, lanceolate, glabrous. Flowers on rays of 3rd order, not fragrant, shortly pedicellate or sessile. Calyx green; tube tubular, ca. 1.5 mm, glabrous; lobes ovate, ca. 1 mm, glabrous, apex obtuse. Corolla white, rotate, 4-6 mm in diam., glabrous; tube 1-2 mm; lobes spreading, ovate, ca. 2.5 mm, exceeding tube, apex rounded, margin entire. Stamens subequaling corolla, inserted at base of corolla; filaments ca. 3 mm; anthers yellow-whitish, globose, very small, less than 1 mm. Styles not exceeding calyx lobes; stigmas capitate. Fruit maturing red, ovoid, 9-11 mm, base rounded, apex rounded, glabrous; pyrenes very compressed, ovoid, 8-10 × 5-7 mm, sometimes much smaller, occasionally ovoid-oblong, only 4-5 mm in diam., slightly impressed on ventral side, apex rounded. Fl. Apr-May, fr. Sep-Oct. 2n = 18*.

● Forests, scrub; (200-)800-1700 m. Anhui, N Fujian, N Guangdong, E Guangxi, Guizhou, Henan, W Hubei, Hunan, S Jiangsu, Jiangxi, S Shaanxi, E Sichuan, Taiwan, Yunnan, Zhejiang.

Viburnum setigerum f. xanthocarpum Rehder (J. Arnold Arbor. 12: 78. 1931) is a yellow/orange-fruited variant described from cultivated material of Chinese provenance.