贵州裸实 gui zhou luo shi

Maytenus esquirolii (H. Léveillé) C. Y. Cheng; ?M. mengziensis H. Shao.

Small shrubs, 1-2 m tall; branches tenuous, black when dry, short branches spiny, 5-10 mm, thorns needlelike. Petiole 2-5 mm; leaf blade broadly elliptic or narrowly ovate, sometimes ovate-lanceolate, 2-8 × 0.5-2.5 cm, papery, slightly thick in fruit, base cuneate, margin shallowly serrate or crenate, apex shortly acute; lateral veins 5-7 pairs, webbing sparsely with veinlets, obvious on both surfaces. Cymes axillary, 1-4-flowered, monochasial; peduncle very tenuous, 0.5-1.7 cm; pedicel 3-5 mm, slightly elongate when fructiferous. Flowers white, ca. 4 mm in diam.; sepals oblong; petals narrowly ovate. Disk small. Ovary subconical; stigma slightly 2-lobed. Capsule obconical, ca. 7 mm, light reddish, usually 2-valved. Seeds reddish brown, basally covered by small aril. Fl. Jun.

● Forests, scrub, mountain slopes. S Guizhou (Luodian), Yunnan.

This species is rare in occurrence. Hong Shao (Bull. Bot. Res., Harbin 20: 126. 2000) described Maytenus mengziensis from Yunnan. Its affinity to Gymnosporia esquirolii needs further study.