银针绣球 yin zhen siu qiu

Shrubs 2.5(-5) m tall. Branchlets black-brown, terete, glabrous or sparsely acicular hirsute, with elliptic lenticels. Petiole 2-4.5 cm, long pilose; leaf blade narrowly elliptic, ovate-lanceolate, or broadly ovate, slightly asymmetric, 13-16 × 4-5 cm, papery, abaxially sparsely appressed white acicular hirsute along veins, more densely so along midvein and secondary veins, adaxially sparsely strigose, secondary veins 7 or 8 on both sides of midvein, abaxially prominent, base cuneate to subacute, margin densely serrulate, apex acute to shortly acuminate. Inflorescences corymbose cymes, ca. 19 cm wide; peduncle short; branches 3, roughly long hairy; bracteoles linear. Sterile flowers with sepals 4, yellowish, broadly elliptic, broadly ovate, or broadly orbicular, 1-1.6 × 1-1.9 cm, margin entire. Fertile flowers with calyx teeth triangular, less than 1 mm in bud, slightly longer in fruit. Petals deep yellow, oblong, ca. 2 mm in bud. Stamens 10, unequal; anthers purple-blue. Ovary less than 1/2 superior. Styles 3, ca. 1 mm in fruit, apex subacute. Capsule ovoid-globose, ca. 2.5 mm in diam., projected apical part conical, ca. 1 mm, ca. 1/3 as long as capsule body. Seeds brown, fusiform, long and narrowly winged at both ends; seed coat striate veined. Fl. Jun-Jul, fr. Sep.

* Sparse forests or thickets in valleys or on mountain slopes; 1900-2500 m. W Yunnan.