台湾小檗 tai wan xiao bo

Berberis brevisepala Hayata; B. chingshuiensis T. Shimizu; B. densifolia Bijhouwer (1928), not Rusby (1920); B. formosana Ahrendt (1941), not H. L. Li (1952); B. kawakamii var. formosana Ahrendt; B. nantoensis C. K. Schneider.

Shrubs, evergreen, 1-2 m tall. Branches dark gray, terete; shoots pale yellow, sulcate, verruculose; spines 3-fid, concolorous, 1.5-2 cm, not sulcate. Leaves subsessile; leaf blade abaxially pale green, adaxially dark green, elliptic, ovate-oblong, or oblong-lanceolate to obovate-oblong or oblanceolate, 2.5-4.5 × 1-1.5 cm, leathery, both surfaces not pruinose, abaxially with obviously raised midvein, lateral veins impressed, adaxially with obviously impressed midvein, lateral veins visible, both surfaces with conspicuous reticulate veins, base cuneate, margin 3-8-spinose-serrate on each side, sometimes coarsely 1- or 2-aristate-dentate on each side, apex acute, aristate. Flowers 7-15-fascicled. Pedicels 7-15 mm; bractlets lanceolate, ca. 2.5 × 1 mm, apex acuminate. Sepals in 2 whorls; outer sepals lanceolate or ovate, ca. 3.5 × 2 mm, apex acuminate; inner sepals lanceolate or oblong-elliptic, 8-9 × ca. 3.5 mm, apex acuminate or obtuse. Petals oblong or oblong-obovate, 4-5 × ca. 3.2 mm, base cuneate, with separate glands, apex entire or slightly incised. Anther connective slightly prolonged, truncate. Ovules 2 or 3, shortly funiculate. Berry ovoid, ca. 9 × 5 mm, slightly pruinose, style persistent. Fl. Mar-May, fr. Aug-Oct.

● Thickets, forests; 2500-3500 m. Taiwan.