柘藤 zhe teng

Batis fruticosa Roxburgh, Fl. Ind., ed. 1832, 3: 763. 1832; Cudrania fruticosa (Roxburgh) Wight ex Kurz; Vanieria fruticosa (Roxburgh) Chun.

Woody vines. Branchlets grayish white to pale brown, longitudinally ridged when dry, glabrous, lenticellate; spines curved, often absent on flowering shoots. Petiole 1-1.2 cm, glabrous; leaf blade broadly elliptic, 8-14 × 3.5-6 cm, membranous, abaxially pale green and pubescent sporadically along veins, adaxially dark green and glabrous, base rounded to broadly cuneate, margin entire, apex acute to caudate; basal lateral veins 2 and extending to 1/3 of leaf blade length, secondary veins 4 or 5 on each side of midvein, abaxially conspicuous, and adaxially flat, tertiary veins ± parallel. Inflorescences axillary, in pairs. Male inflorescences with a slender peduncle to 1.5 cm; capitulum ca. 1 cm in diam. Male flowers: calyx lobes fleshy, margin revolute, apex thick; filaments short; pistillode pyramidal. Female flowers: calyx lobes fleshy, basally connate, margin revolute, apically free and thick. Fruiting syncarp ± globose, ca. 2 cm in diam. Mature drupes pealike, 5-6 mm in diam., enclosed by persistent calyx lobes. Fl. Apr-May, fr. Jul-Aug.

Monsoon forests; 1000-1700 m. S Yunnan [Bangladesh, NE India, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam].