川黔尖叶柃 chuan qian jian ye ling

Shrubs 1-3 m tall. Young branches grayish brown, glabrous or subglabrous; current year branchlets yellowish brown, terete, densely pubescent; terminal buds densely pubescent. Petiole 2-5 mm, abaxially pubescent; leaf blade elliptic to oblong-elliptic, 7-12 × 2.5-3.5 cm, leathery, abaxially pale green, sparsely pubescent when young, and soon glabrescent, adaxially dark green and glabrous, midvein abaxially elevated and adaxially impressed, secondary veins 6-9 on each side of midvein, secondary and reticulate veins abaxially raised and adaxially visible or obscure, base cuneate, margin serrulate on apical 1/2 and entire on basal portion, apex acuminate to abruptly shortly caudate. Flowers axillary, solitary or paired. Pedicel 1-1.5 mm, pubescent. Male flowers: bracteoles ovate, ca. 1 mm; sepals ovate to suborbicular, 2-3 mm, leathery, outside densely pubescent, margin ciliolate; petals oblong to obovate-oblong, 3-4 mm; stamens 12-15; anthers not locellate; pistillode glabrous. Female flowers: bracteoles and sepals similar to those of male flowers; petals oblong, ca. 3 mm; ovary globose, glabrous, 3-loculed; style ca. 1 mm, apically 3-parted. Fruit purplish black when mature, globose, ca. 6 mm in diam., with 23-25 seeds per locule. Seeds brown, orbicular-reniform, shiny. Fl. Sep-Nov, fr. May-Jun.

● Forests or thickets on mountain slopes; 600-1500 m. NW Guizhou, SW Sichuan.