沙坝八月瓜 sha ba ba yue gua

Holboellia reticulata C. Y. Wu.

Evergreen. Stems grayish brown, terete, ca. 9 mm in diam., slightly angular but not winged; young branchlets conspicuously angular; lenticels numerous, fusiform. Winter bud scales broadly triangular. Petiole 3--11 cm; leaf blade palmately 3--5-foliolate; petiolules 2--5 cm; leaflets oblong to oblanceolate-oblong, 6--16 × (2--)3.5--7 cm, leathery, abaxially grayish green, adaxially green, base broadly cuneate to sometimes rounded, margin narrowly revolute, apex acute to short acuminate; secondary veins 6 or 7 pairs; tertiary veinlets prominently reticulate. Male inflorescences 2- or 3-fascicled, 1--2 cm; female inflorescences ca. 8 cm. Male flowers: sepals pale greenish white; outer 3 sepals ovate-oblong, cucullate, 7--8 × 3--4 mm; inner 3 sepals smaller. Petals broadly elliptic, ca. 1 mm wide. Stamens 5--7 mm; filaments terete, 2--3 mm; anthers 3--4 mm; connective apical appendage small, obtuse. Pistillodes minute, awl-like. Female flowers: sepals purple, fleshy, slightly thick; outer 3 sepals broadly ovate, 10--11 × 6.5--7 mm; inner 3 sepals ca. 9 × 6 mm. Petals broadly elliptic, ca. 1 mm wide. Staminodes subulate, ca. 1.5 mm, apex short. Carpels ovoid-terete, ca. 7 mm. Fruit ellipsoid to oblong, 6--12 × 3.5--5 cm. Seeds numerous, black, suborbicular, ca. 7 mm in diam., shiny. Fl. Mar--Apr, fr. Aug--Nov.

Dense forest along valleys, mixed forest margins; 1000--2200 m. SW Guangxi, SE Yunnan [Vietnam].