牛藤果 niu teng guo

Parvatia brunoniana (Wallich) Decaisne subsp. elliptica (Hemsley) H. N. Qin; P. elliptica (Hemsley) Gagnepain.

Monoecious, androgynous or not. Winter bud scales inconspicuous. Petiole slender, 10--17 cm; leaf blade pinnately 3-foliolate; leaflets elliptic, oblong, ovate-oblong, or obovate, 3--11 × 2--6 cm, papery, abaxially pale green to grayish green, adaxially dark green, both ends obtuse or base rounded and apex acute; midvein impressed; secondary veins 4 or 5 pairs, abaxially prominent and adaxially impressed; tertiary veinlets impressed. Racemes several, 4--6 cm, many flowered; bracts persistent, broadly ovate, less than 1 mm; peduncle slender. Flowers pale green to whitish; bracteoles subulate, less than 1 mm. Male flowers: pedicel 1--1.2 cm. Outer 3 sepals ovate, ca. 8 mm, apex acute; inner 3 sepals lanceolate. Petals ovate-lanceolate, shorter than filaments. Filaments connate into a tube to near apex; connective apical appendage hornlike, as long as anther. Pistillodes subulate, concealed within filament tube. Female flowers: pedicel 1.8--2 cm, ± thick. Outer 3 sepals narrowly lanceolate, ca. 15 × 3--4 mm; inner 3 sepals linear-lanceolate, ca. 14 × 2 mm. Staminodes ca. 1 mm. Fruit pale brown, grayish brown when dry, oblong to subglobose, 2--4 cm in diam. Seeds subtriangular, slightly compressed; seed coat blackish, shiny. Fl. May--Aug, fr. May--Dec.

300--1200 m. Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi, Sichuan, Yunnan [NE India].