缙云卫矛 jin yun wei mao

Evergreen shrubs, ca. 1 m tall; branches terete, young twigs with 4 striae or angles. Petiole sturdy, 1-2 mm or subsessile; leaf blade thinly leathery, obovate, oblong-obovate, or elliptic to oblong-elliptic, 8-12.5 × 2.5-5 cm, base attenuate to broadly attenuate, margin large denticulate, apex acuminate; lateral veins 7-9 pairs, redividing and webbing into veinlets. Peduncle 1-2 cm, 1 or 2 × dichotomously branched, several flowered; pedicel ca. 5 mm. Flowers 5-merous, ca. 10 × 10 mm; sepals suborbicular; petals red-pink to black-purple at maturity, obovate. Capsule obrhombic, with 5 angles and little grooves, brown or yellow-brown to red-brown, ca. 1 × 1.2 cm, 5-lobed, sometimes only 3 or 4 lobes developing. Seeds subglobose, red, partly covered by orange-red aril. Fl. May-Aug, fr. Oct-Nov.

● Forests, woodlands; 300-400 m. Sichuan.

This is a rare species: only a few collections have been made since it was first described in the 1940s. The regular and large-denticulate leaf margin make it unique in the genus.