台湾荛花 tai wan rao hua

Daphne taiwanensis (C. E. Chang) Halda.

Shrubs to 2 m tall. Young branches pale yellowish green, turning reddish brown, terete, appressed pubescent, glabrescent. Leaves opposite or alternate; petiole ca. 2 mm; leaf blade bright green adaxially, paler abaxially, elliptic or narrowly obovate to cochleate, 3-4 × 1.2-1.8 cm, stiffly papery, both surfaces glabrous, base obtuse, apex acute to acuminate; lateral veins 8 or 9 pairs, slightly raised abaxially, obscure adaxially. Inflorescences terminal, shortly spicate or umbellate, (1-)7-10-flowered; peduncle ca. 1 cm, glabrous. Pedicel 1-5 mm, articulate at base. Calyx yellowish white or green, sometimes flushed with purple; tube slightly ovoid, 2-5 mm, exterior hairy; lobes 4, ovate or oblong, 1-2 mm. Stamens 8; anthers oblong-elliptic, ca. 0.4 mm, obtuse, included within calyx tube. Disk scales 2, linear, each deeply 2-lobed. Ovary obovoid, glabrous or with apex pubescent; style short, ca. 1 mm; stigma globose. Drupe red, ovoid, 5-7 × ca. 4 mm.

● Forested slopes, thickets; low to middle elevations. Taiwan.