红毛五加 hong mao wu jia

Acanthopanax giraldii Harms, Bot. Jahrb. Syst. 36(Beibl. 82): 80. 1905; A. giraldii var. hispidus G. Hoo; A. giraldii var. inermis Harms & Rehder; A. humillimus Y. S. Lian & Xue L. Chen; A. yui H. L. Li; A. yui var. longipedunculatus G. Hoo; A. yui var. parvispinosus G. Hoo; A. yui var. villosus Y. R. Li; Eleutherococcus giraldii f. hispidus (G. Hoo) H. Ohashi; E. giraldii var. hispidus (G. Hoo) Q. S. Wang; E. giraldii var. inermis (Harms & Rehder) Nakai; E. giraldii var. villosus (Y. R. Li) P. S. Hsu & S. L. Pan; E. humillimus (Y. S. Lian & Xue L. Chen) Y. F. Deng; E. yui (H. L. Li) S. Y. Hu.

Shrubs, to ca. 3 m tall. Branches brownish, with dense bristlelike spreading or reflexed prickles, rarely unarmed. Petiole 3-7 cm, glabrous, rarely prickly; petiolules short; leaflets (3-)5, obovate-oblong, rarely ovate, 2.5-8 × 1.5-3 cm, abaxially pubescent, adaxially glabrous or scattered hispid, secondary veins ca. 5 pairs, inconspicuous, base cuneate, margin irregularly biserrate, apex acute or shortly acuminate. Inflorescence terminal, a solitary umbel, borne on leafy shoots; peduncles 0.5-1(-2) cm, stout; pedicels 0.5-1.5 cm, glabrous or pubescent when young. Calyx subentire, glabrous. Corolla white. Ovary 5-carpellate; styles united for 1/5-1/2 their length. Fruit black at maturity, globose, ca. 8 mm. Fl. Jun-Jul, fr. Sep-Oct.

● Scrub fields on mountain slopes; 1300-3500 m. Gansu, Henan, Hubei, Ningxia, Qinghai, Sichuan, Shaanxi, Yunnan.

Deng (Novon 13: 305-306. 2003) separated Eleutherococcus humillimus from E. giraldii on account of the former being a subshrub, only 5-15 cm tall (vs. 1-3 m), with 3 or 4(or 5) carpels and styles (vs. 5), and styles connate for ca. 1/5 their length (vs. 1/4-1/2 their length). Deng recorded E. humillimus from high elevations (2700-3000) in S Gansu and N Sichuan and noted that it might be an alpine vicariant of E. giraldii.