川鄂菝葜 chuan e ba qia

Smilax umbrosa J. M. Xu.

Subshrubs or small shrubs, suberect. Rhizome creeping, stolonlike, 1--2 mm in diam. Stem sometimes with 1 or 2 branches, terete, 10--30 cm, 2--4-leaved. Petiole 4--13 mm, abaxially striate-ridged, scarcely winged; abscission zone at middle; tendrils absent. Leaf blade abaxially very glaucous, broadly ovate, elliptic, or suborbicular, 3--7.5 × 3--6 cm, base cordate, main veins 3--5. Female inflorescence borne in axil of scalelike, membranous bract, of 1 umbel, basally not prophyllate; peduncle 1--2 cm; umbel 2--5-flowered, base not thickened. Male flowers unknown. Female flowers very small; staminodes 2 or 3. Berries ca. 7 mm in diam. (immature). Fr. Nov--Dec.

* Bamboo forests, forest margins; 1700--1900 m. W Hubei, SW Sichuan.