小叶红淡比 xiao ye hong dan bi

Cleyera japonica Thunberg var. parvifolia Kobuski, J. Arnold Arbor. 18: 127. 1937.

Shrubs or trees, 2-5 m tall. Young branches grayish brown, terete; current year branchlets reddish brown, slightly 2-ribbed, glabrous; terminal buds long conic, ca. 1 cm, glabrous. Petiole 3-5 mm, glabrous; leaf blade elliptic, 3-5.5 × 1.5-2 cm, leathery, abaxially pale green, adaxially dark green and shiny, both surfaces glabrous, midvein slightly elevated on both surfaces, secondary veins 5 or 6 on each side of midvein and obscure on both surfaces, base cuneate, margin entire and slightly revolute, apex shortly acuminate and with an obtuse tip. Flowers axillary, solitary or rarely to 3 in a cluster. Pedicel 5-8 mm glabrous; bracteoles caducous. Sepals ovate-triangular, ca. 3.5 × 2 mm, outside glabrous, margin ciliolate, apex acute and with a black mucro. Petals white, oblong to obovate-oblong, 5-6 × 2.5-3 mm. Stamens ca. 25, ca. 5 mm; anthers ovate, ca. 1 mm, with filiform trichomes, connective exserted. Ovary globose, 2-loculed, several ovules per locule; style ca. 4 mm, apically 2-lobed. Fruit black when mature, globose, ca. 5 mm in diam. Seeds black, compressed globose, shiny. Fl. Apr-May, fr. Aug-Nov.

● Forests on mountain slopes. N Guangdong.