喙果瑞香 hui guo rui xiang

Daphne axillaris (Merrill & Chun) Chun & Wei subsp. rhynchocarpa (C. Y. Chang) Halda.

Shrubs evergreen, to 3 m tall. Branches gray-brown or dull brown, sparsely pubescent. Leaves alternate; petiole 1-3 mm; leaf blade deep green adaxially, paler abaxially, elliptic or oblanceolate, 5-11 × 2-3 cm, papery or thinly leathery, both surfaces glabrous, base cuneate, margin slightly undulate and revolute, apex obtuse; lateral veins 12-14 pairs, anastomosing near margins. Inflorescences mostly axillary, occasionally also terminal, 1-3-flowered; peduncle 1-2 mm, sericeous; bracts ovate-oblong, ca. 4 × 1.8 mm, margin ciliate, apex obtuse. Pedicel 1-2 mm, sericeous. Calyx purple-red; tube cylindric, 8-10 mm, exterior sericeous; lobes 4, ovate or ovate-oblong, ca. 4 mm. Stamens 8, lower whorl inserted at middle of calyx tube, upper whorl in throat; filaments short; anthers oblong, ca. 1.7 mm; upper ones ca. 1/2 exserted from calyx tube. Disk cup-shaped, margin entire. Ovary glabrous; style very short; stigma capitate. Drupe ovoid, ca. 7 × 5 mm, apex acuminate or beaked. Fl. Nov-Dec, fr. Mar-Apr.

● Forests; ca. 2500 m. SW Yunnan.