毛蒟 mao ju

Chavica puberula Bentham; Piper puberulum (Bentham) Maximowicz (1887), not P. puberulum (Bentham) Seemann (1868, based on Macropiper puberulum Bentham).

Climbers to several m long, dioecious. Young branches softly hairy, glabrescent. Petiole 5-7 mm, densely pubescent, sheathed at base only; leaf blade ovate-lanceolate or ovate, 5-11 × 2-6 cm, papery, abaxially pubescent, a few hairs dichotomous, adaxially ± glabrescent, base ± cordate, apex acute or acuminate, usually asymmetric; veins 5-7, apical pair arising 1.5-3 cm above base, alternate, others ± basal. Spikes leaf-opposed. Male spikes ca. 7 cm × 3 mm; peduncle slightly longer than petioles, pilose; bracts orbicular, sometimes slightly tapered, peltate, glabrous. Stamens usually 3; filaments very short; anthers reniform. Female spikes 4-6 cm; peduncle, rachis, and bracts as in male spikes. Ovary subglobose; stigmas 4. Drupe globose, ca. 2 mm in diam. Fl. Mar-May.

* Thickets or forests, on trees or rocks; 100-1300 m. Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan

There is considerable variation in the indumentum, from densely puberulent to nearly glabrous. This species has been more widely known as Piper puberulum or as P. arboricola. The name P. puberulum is a later homonym of the Fijian species P. puberulum, and is thus not available; the material with few hairs was identified as Piper arboricola in FRPS, but examination of the type of that name has shown that it is a synonym of P. kadsura.