东方闭花木 dong fang bi hua mu

Cleistanthus dongfangensis (P. T. Li) H. S. Kiu; Phyllanthus dongfangensis P. T. Li.

Erect shrubs up to 4 m tall; stem and branches terete; branchlets pubescent when young, glabrous at maturity. Stipules angular or subulate, 1-3 mm inserted at bilateral base of petiole, brown; petiole 1-4 mm, pubescent to glabrous; leaf blade papery, elliptic or ovate, 1-7 × 0.5-3 cm, base acute, rounded, obtuse, or slightly cordate, apex acute, obtuse, or retuse, rarely shortly acuminate, glabrous on both surfaces, dark green adaxially, greenish abaxially; lateral veins 7-9 pairs, obliquely ascendant, anastomosing near margin, slightly elevated on both surfaces. Flowers androgynous, often grouped into glomerules; inflorescences axillary or inserted at middle or lower part of aphyllous branchlets, 5-7-flowered; bracts small, broadly ovate, lanate inside. Male flowers: calyx ca. 4 mm, red, glabrous; sepals 5, oblong, acute, valvate; petals 5, small, rhombic, ca. 0.4 mm, membranous, glabrous; disk annular, with 5 crenulations; stamens 5, ca. 3 mm; filaments connate; anthers ca. 2 mm, 2-celled, longitudinally dehiscent. Female flowers: calyx ca. 3 mm, glabrous; sepals 5, triangular, acute; petals 5, spatulate, ca. 1 mm, glabrous; disk cup-shaped, ca. 1 mm, erose at apex; ovary ovoid, ca. 1 mm, glabrous; styles 3, ca. 1 mm, free or connate at base, shallowly bifid. Capsules sessile, oblate-spherical, 7-8 mm in diam., gray-brown, septicidal and loculicidal, reticulate-elevated outside when mature, endocarp yellowish. Seeds subangular, ca. 3 mm. Fl. Jan-Mar, fr. Apr-Jun.

Open forests or scrub on sandy or clayey soils; 200-500 m. Hainan (Changjiang, Dongfang, Ledong) [Vietnam].

"Cleistanthus anomalus Merrill & Metcalf" (Croizat, J. Arnold Arbor. 23: 39. 1942) lacks a validating description but seems to belong here.