四川虎刺 si chuan hu ci

Shrubs, 1-2.5 m tall. Roots fleshy, moniliform. Branches slightly flattened when young becoming terete, glabrous, without spines. Petiole of developed leaves ca. 5 mm, glabrous; leaf blade drying leathery, brown or straw-yellow adaxially, straw-yellow or olive-green abaxially, elliptic, elliptic-oblong, or oblong-lanceolate on upper part of stem, to linear on lower part of stem, 5-13(-16) × 2-4(-6) cm, glabrous, base cuneate to acute, margins entire and flat to thinly revolute, apex acute to acuminate; midrib thinly prominent adaxially; secondary veins 6-8 pairs; stipules caducous, interpetiolar, triangular, ca. 1 mm, glabrous, acute. Inflorescences glabrous. Pedicels ca. 2 mm. Calyx glabrous; hypanthium portion cupuliform, ca. 1.5 mm; limb 0.5-1 mm, undulate to lobed for ca. 1/2; lobes broadly triangular. Corolla in bud pale green, glabrous outside, 10-12 mm. Drupes 6-7 mm in diam. Fl. winter-spring, fr. Oct-Dec.

● Thickets or forests on hills; 700-900 m. Hubei, Hunan, Sichuan.

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