华南梾木 hua nan lai mu

Swida austrosinensis (W. P. Fang & W. K. Hu) W. P. Fang & W. K. Hu.

Shrubs or small trees, 3–6 m tall. Young branches terete, sparsely pubescent with fine white trichomes; old branches yellowish brown, with oblong lenticels. Leaves opposite, rarely alternate; leaf blade oblong-elliptic, 4–8 × 2–4 cm, thinly leathery, abaxially nearly glabrous and not papillate, veins 4 or 5, base broadly cuneate, margin slightly revolute, apex shortly acuminate. Corymbose cymes 5–6 cm wide, sparsely pubescent. Pedicel 3–4 mm, slender. Flowers white, ca. 7 mm in diam. Calyx teeth sharply triangular, ca. 0.3 mm, subequaling disk. Petals lanceolate, ca. 3.6 mm. Stamens slightly longer than petals; anthers linear-elliptic. Style cylindrical, ca. 3.3 mm, slender; stigma capitate, subequaling style in diam. Fruit black at maturity, globose, ca. 5 mm in diam.; stones vertically compressed globose, ca. 4 × 3 mm. Fl. Jun–Jul, fr. Dec.

Thickets; ca. 2500 m. Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hunan.

There are few herbarium specimens of this species. Fang and Hu described the leaves as thickly papery in the description of the species, but as thickly leathery in the key to species. In the specimens we examined (including the type), the leaves were thinly leathery. Living plants were not observed.