珠光绣球 zhu guang xiu qiu

Shrubs ca. 1.5 m tall. Branchlets terete; bark white, peeled off into fragments when old. Petiole thin, 0.5-1 cm, abaxially appressed pilose; leaf blade abaxially slightly glossy and pearly gray when dry, adaxially yellowish, ovate to elliptic, 5-12 × 2.5-5 cm, membranous, both surfaces glabrous or sparsely appressed pubescent along veins, secondary veins 7-9 on both sides of midvein, thin, abaxially elevated, base broadly cuneate to obtuse, margin sparsely serrulate, apex shortly caudate-acuminate. Inflorescences corymbose cymes, ca. 7 cm wide, apex slightly arcuate; peduncle present; branches thick, densely crisped pubescent. Sterile flowers absent. Fertile flowers unknown. Capsule subglobose, 3-4 mm in diam., projected apical part longer than calyx tube; persistent calyx tube shallowly cupular, 1-2 mm, teeth lanceolate to triangular, 0.8-1.5 mm; persistent styles 3, ca. 1.5 mm, stigmas curved outward, decurrent. Seeds brownish, wingless; seed coat net veined. Fr. Jul-Aug.

* Dense forests in valleys; ca. 1000 m. S Guangxi (Shiwan Dashan).

One of the present authors (Bartholomew) believes that this species is not distinct from Hydrangea coenobialis.