长刺山柑 chang ci shan gan

Capparis micracantha Candolle var. henryi (Matsumura) Jacobs.

Shrubs, scandent, ca. 2 m tall. Twigs green, terete, glabrous. Stipular spines 6-7 mm, often recurved. Petiole 0.8-2 cm, glabrous; leaf blade elliptic to slightly obovate, 8-12.5 × 4-4.5 cm, subleathery, glabrous, secondary veins 5-7(-9) on each side of midvein, abaxially raised, and arching and connected near margin, reticulate veins obvious, base rounded to slightly cuneate, apex rounded and with a mucronulate callus. Inflorescences superaxillary rows in apical axils, 2-6-flowered, often appearing before new leaves on young twigs. Pedicel 6-10 mm, sparsely and shortly pubescent when young, promptly glabrescent. Sepals ovate-elliptic, both surfaces glabrous but margin tomentose, apex acute. Petals white, linear-oblong, 8-13 × 3-3.5 mm, both surfaces shortly pubescent particularly near apex, apex obtuse. Stamens 12-16; filaments 2-3 cm; anthers 1.2-1.4 mm. Gynophore 1.8-3 cm, markedly thickened and woody in fruit; ovary almost globose, ca. 2.5 mm, glabrous, 1-loculed; placentae 4; ovules many. Fruit yellowish, globose, 2.5-3.5 cm in diam.; stipe ca. 4 mm wide. Seeds ca. 20 per fruit, ca. 10 × 5 mm.

● Thickets, second growth forests; below 300 m. E and S Taiwan.