柳叶虎刺 liu ye hu ci

Canthium labordei H. Léveillé, Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. 13: 178. 1914; Lasianthus labordei (H. Léveillé) Rehder; Prismatomeris labordei (H. Léveillé) Merrill ex Rehder; P. linearis Hutchinson.

Small shrubs, 0.4-2 m tall. Roots fleshy, moniliform. Branches 4-angled to flattened and usually with a well-developed longitudinal ridge descending from stipule midrib on each side, yellow to pale brown, glabrous, without spines. Petiole of developed leaves 2-6 mm, glabrous; leaf blade drying papery, gray to brownish green adaxially, gray-green, brownish green, or straw-yellow abaxially, lanceolate to lanceolate-linear, 5-21 × 0.6-2.5 cm, glabrous or sometimes pubescent along veins adaxially, base cuneate or acute, margins entire or irregularly serrulate and flat to thinly revolute, apex tapered and acuminate with tip often flexuous; midrib thinly prominulous adaxially; secondary veins 9-16 pairs; stipules caducous, interpetiolar, triangular, 0.5-1 mm, acute to glandular-fimbriate. Inflorescences glabrous. Pedicels 2-3 mm. Calyx glabrous; hypanthium portion turbinate, ca. 1 mm; limb 0.5-1 mm, lobed for 1/4-1/2; lobes broadly triangular. Corolla white to yellow, outside glabrous; tube 5-9 mm; lobes ovate, ca. 3 mm. Drupes ca. 8 mm in diam. Fl. Feb-Mar, Oct-Dec, fr. Sep-Dec.

Sparse or dense forests or thickets; 800-1800 m. N Guangdong, N Guangxi, Guizhou, Hunan, Sichuan, Yunnan [Vietnam].

This species was reported to be distylous by Naiki and Nagamasu (Amer. J. Bot. 91: 664-671. 2004).