铁牛皮 tie niu pi

Shrubs evergreen, 0.2-0.8 m tall, much branched, sometimes cushionlike. Branches pale yellowish green, turning brownish gray or grayish, stout, pubescent. Leaves alternate; petiole very short to absent; leaf blade bright green adaxially, paler abaxially, lanceolate or oblong-oblanceolate to oblong-elliptic, 1.5-3.2 × 0.5-0.8 cm, thinly leathery, both surfaces glabrous, base narrowly cuneate, margin strongly revolute, apex rounded, sometimes retuse; veins 8-12 pairs. Inflorescences terminal, 5-7-flowered; peduncle very short, sparsely tomentose; bracts ovate, 4.5-6(-9) × 3-4(-5) mm, apex obtuse, ciliate. Flowers fragrant; pedicel ca. 1 mm. Calyx white or pale pink; tube cylindric, 10-11(-14) mm, exterior glabrous; lobes 4, ovate-oblong, 5-8 × 3-5 mm, apex obtuse, often retuse. Stamens 8, lower whorl inserted above middle of calyx tube; upper whorl in throat. Disk shallowly cup-shaped, entire. Ovary ovoid-ellipsoid, glabrous or apex gray pubescent; style short, ca. 0.4 mm; stigma capitate. Drupe red, ovoid, ca. 7 mm. Fl. May.

● Among boulders and bushes on sunny slopes; 3000-4400 m. SW Gansu, W Sichuan.