小叶黑面神 xiao ye hei mian shen

Rhamnus vitis-idaea N. L. Burman, Fl. Indica, 61. 1768; Breynia rhamnoides Müller Argoviensis, nom. illeg. superfl.; Melanthesa rhamnoides Blume, nom. illeg. superfl.; Phyllanthus rhamnoides Retzius, nom. illeg. superfl.

Erect shrubs to 3 m tall, glabrous throughout, much branched; branches terete, slender. Stipules ovate-triangular, ca. 1.5-2 mm; petiole 2-3 mm; leaf blade elliptic (rarely ovate or broadly ovate), 2-5 × 1.5-3 cm, membranous, distichous, abaxially pruinose-green or glaucous, adaxially green, base obtuse, apex acute; midvein and 5-7 pairs lateral veins flattened adaxially, elevated abaxially. Flowers small, green, solitary or several in axillary racemes. Male flowers: pedicels slender, 2.5-4 mm; sepals 6, broadly ovate, ca. 2 mm, subtruncate at apex; stamens 3, connate into capitate column. Female flowers solitary; pedicels 3-4 mm, not lengthening in fruit; sepals as in male, but shorter, 1-2 mm, not enlarged in fruit; ovary ovoid; stigmas short, ca. 0.25 mm, free, undivided. Fruiting pedicel 3-4 mm; fruits ovoid, compressed at apex, 3.5-5 × 4-5 mm, apex sometimes obscurely beaked, without apical rim, red and turning black-purple when fully mature, drying shiny brown. Seeds 3-4.5 × 1.8-2.5 × 1.7-2.5 mm, yellow-brown. Fl. Mar-Sep, fr. May-Dec [elsewhere fl. and fr. ± year-round]. n = 16.

Montane slopes, scrub; 100-1000 m. Guangdong, Guizhou, Yunnan [Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam].

Plants from E China (Fujian and Taiwan) and Japan are here included in the previous species, Breynia officinalis.