长序龙船花 chang xu long chuan hua

Small trees, height not noted; branches glabrous. Leaves opposite; petiole 7-10 mm; blade drying membranous, elliptic-oblong to oblong-oblanceolate, 10-14 × 4-5 cm, glabrous, base cuneate, obtuse, or rounded, apex abruptly shortly acuminate; secondary veins 10-12 pairs; stipules triangular, 5-8 mm, with arista almost as long as sheath. Inflorescence terminal, corymbiform, puberulent; peduncle ca. 14 cm, articulate below middle, at articulation with pair of reduced leaves (or leaflike bracts) ovate to oblong-ovate, ca. 4 × 2.5 cm; branched portion 6-7 cm wide; secondary axes 1.5-1.8 cm; bracts linear-subulate, 0.5-3 mm; pedicels to 1.5 mm. Flowers sessile or pedicellate. Calyx puberulent; hypanthium obconic to ellipsoid, ca. 0.5 mm; limb deeply lobed; lobes narrowly elliptic-oblong, 1.3-1.5 mm, obtuse. Corolla in bud up to 2 cm with lobes up to 6 mm, obtuse. Drupe not seen. Fl. May.

● Mountains; ca. 1600 m. Yunnan (Hekou).

The "reduced leaves" borne on the peduncle that were mentioned in the protologue to characterize this species are called by some authors "foliaceous bracts."