小果枣 xiao guo zao

Rhamnus oenopolia Linnaeus, Sp. Pl. 1: 194. 1753.

Shrubs erect or scandent, spinose. Young branches densely ferruginous or yellow-brown pubescent; bark gray or gray-brown. Stipular spines 1, sometimes 2, one recurved and one erect, 3-4 mm; petiole 5-7 mm, densely yellow-brown pubescent; leaf blade ovate-oblong or ovate-lanceolate, 3-8 × 2-4 cm, papery, abaxially appressed pubescent to nearly villous, adaxially veins sparsely pubescent or glabrescent, 3-veined at base, veins prominent abaxially, conspicuously impressed adaxially, base usually ± asymmetric, subrounded, margin inconspicuously crenate, apex acute or acuminate. Flowers greenish yellow, few to 10 in axillary shortly pedunculate cymes. Pedicel ca. 2 mm, pilose. Sepals ovate-triangular, abaxially sparsely pilose to pubescent, adaxially glabrous, apex acute. Petals spatulate, clawed, enfolding stamens. Stamens slightly shorter than petals. Disk pentagonous, thick, fleshy, often 5-lobed. Ovary globose, glabrous, immersed in disk; style 2-branched. Drupe black, shiny, globose or obovoid-globose, small, 5-7 × 5-6 mm, base with persistent calyx tube, apex mucronulate; fruiting pedicel 3-4 mm, pilose; endocarp cartilaginous, ca. 2 mm; stone 1- or 2-seeded. Seeds shiny, globose. Fl. Aug-Sep, fr. Oct. 2n = 24.

Forests, thickets; 500-1100 m. Guangxi, S Yunnan [India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand; Australia].