牛眼睛 niu yan jing

Capparis hastigera Hance; C. hastigera var. obcordata Merrill & F. P. Metcalf; C. horrida Linnaeus f.; C. swinhoei Hance.

Shrubs, scandent or trailing, 2-5 m tall. New branches with cataphylls at base, densely pubescent with red brown to gray stellate trichomes, eventually glabrescent. Stipular spines strong, sharp, recurved, 1-5 mm. Petiole 5-12[-20] mm; leaf blade elliptic-lanceolate to obovate-lanceolate, sometimes elliptic, linear, or hastate, 3-8[-13] × 1.5-4[-7.5] cm, subleathery, both surfaces with dense thin gray stellate trichomes when young but soon glabrescent, midvein abaxially raised and adaxially flat or impressed, secondary veins 3-7 on each side of midvein and slender, reticulate veins obvious on both surfaces, base cuneate, rounded, or rarely nearly cordate, apex acute, rounded, or rarely slightly acuminate and often with an outwardly bent or recurved 2-3 mm leathery mucro. Inflorescences superaxillary rows, (1 or)2 or 3(or 4)-flowered, near apex of young branches, with flowers often opened before leaf formation and suggesting racemes. Pedicel 0.5-1.8 cm, slightly stout, densely shortly reddish brown stellate tomentose. Sepals 8-11 × 6-8 mm, slightly unequal, outside ± reddish brown tomentose; sepals of outer whorl nearly orbicular, 1 larger, inside concave, apex acute to obtuse; sepals of inner whorl elliptic. Petals white to rarely yellowish white, oblong, 9-15 × 5-7 mm, glabrous; apical petal pair with red flecks on central base. Stamens 30-45; filaments 3.3-4 cm; anthers 1.2-1.5 mm. Gynophore base gray tomentose; ovary ellipsoid, 1.5-2 mm; placentae 4; ovules many; stigma obvious. Fruit red to purplish red when mature, globose to ellipsoid, 2.5-4 cm in diam., verrucose; pericarp firm when dry; fruiting gynophore 3-4.5 cm × 3-6 mm, glabrous; fruiting pedicel 3-5 mm in diam., thickened, woody. Seeds 10-20 per fruit, reddish brown, 5-8 × 4-6 mm. Fl. Feb-Apr, fr. after Jul. 2n = 40, 44.

Forest margins, thickets, limestone slopes or sandy soil, scattered grasslands; below 700 m. Guangdong (Leizhou Bandao), Guangxi (Hepu), Hainan [India, Indonesia, Myanmar, Nepal, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam; Indian Ocean islands].