斜脉粗叶木 xie mai cu ye mu

Dasus verticillatus Loureiro, Fl. Cochinch. 1: 142. 1790; Lasianthus andamanicus J. D. Hooker; L. taitoensis Simizu; L. tamirensis Pierre ex Pitard.

Shrubs, 1.5-3 m tall; branches and branchlets appressed pubescent or strigillose to glabrescent. Petiole 7-10 mm, densely pubescent or strigillose to strigose; leaf blade leathery, oblong to elliptic-oblong, 8.5-18 × 3.5-7 cm, glabrous adaxially, thinly pubescent or strigillose abaxially, base acute to broadly obtuse, margins usually undulate, often thinly revolute, apex acute or acuminate; lateral veins 7-9 pairs; nervules parallel; nerves and nervules elevated conspicuously abaxially; stipules generally persistent, triangular to narrowly triangular, 3-5 mm, densely puberulent to strigillose. Inflorescences subcapitate to congested-cymose, sessile; bracts absent or reduced. Flowers sessile to subsessile. Calyx subglabrous or puberulent; hypanthium portion campanulate to subglobose, 2.5-3 mm; limb 2-2.5 mm, truncate or minutely dentate. Corolla 10-12 mm, hirtellous to villous outside, villous inside; lobes 5, ovate. Fruit blue, ellipsoid, up to 10 mm in diam., strigillose to glabrescent, smooth; pyrenes 4 or 5. Fl. Apr-May, fr. Oct-Nov.

Forests, shaded and wet places; 100-1000 m. Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan, Taiwan, Yunnan [Cambodia, India (Andaman and Nicobar Islands), Indonesia, Japan (Ryukyu Islands), Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam].

The relatively large flowers with the large globose to ellipsoid hypanthium (i.e., ovary) portion are distinctive; Lasianthus chinensis is similar in these characters but can be distinguished by its deeply lobed calyx limb and angled to ridged fruit.

Specimens from mainland SE China, Taiwan, and Ryukyu Islands that have been treated as "Lasianthus obliquinervis Merrill" are clearly conspecific with L. verticillatus. In Merrill’s description (Philipp. J. Sci. 1(Suppl. 1): 136. 1906), L. obliquinervis is described as having oblong-ovate stipules ca. 5 mm and fruit with 6 triquetrous pyrenes, which does not match L. verticillatus. Lasianthus obliquinervis represents a different species with distribution in the Philippines and Papua New Guinea. The so-called "L. obliquinervis" from China, Taiwan, and the Ryukyus in Chinese and Japanese literature is a misidentification of the species L. verticillatus.