黑叶山柑 hei ye shan gan

Capparis acutifolia Sweet subsp. sabiifolia (J. D. Hooker & Thomson) Jacobs; C. vientianensis Gagnepain.

Shrubs or small trees, erect to sometimes scandent, glabrous except for petals. Branches green when dry, terete, slender, with vertical thin stripe, without stipular spines. Petiole 5-10 mm, slightly slender; leaf blade narrowly elliptic-lanceolate, broadest at middle or sometimes slightly basally, 5-11(-17.5) × 2.5-4.5(-5.5) cm, 2-3.5 × as long as wide, herbaceous, both surfaces black when dry but particularly adaxially, midvein abaxially raised but concave at least from base to middle, secondary veins 7 or 8 on each side of midvein, arched, and connected near margin, reticulate veins not very obvious, areoles sparse, base cuneate to rounded, apex acuminate to long acuminate and with a 0.5-1.5 cm tip. Inflorescences superaxillary rows, 1-3(or 4)-flowered, apically on twigs. Pedicel 1-2 cm. Sepals 5-6 mm; sepals of outer whorl later with a shallowly saccate base; sepals of inner whorl with a ciliate margin. Petals white, oblong, ca. 8 × 2 mm, ± equal, outside essentially glabrous [or tomentose], inside tomentose. Stamens 18-22; filaments 2-2.5 cm; anthers ca. 0.8 mm. Gynophore (1.6-)2-2.5 cm; ovary ovoid, ca. 1 mm, 1-loculed; placentae 2; style and stigma obscure, only a small short beak at ovary apex. Fruit globose, 7-12 mm in diam., with thin verrucose raised areas, scabrous; fruiting pedicel and gynophore not thickened. Seed 1 or 2 per fruit, ca. 5 mm (mature seeds not seen from China). Fl. Apr-Jul, fr. Sep-Oct.

Mountain slopes, valleys, shade of thickets or forests; 300-1400 m. Hainan (Baoting), Taiwan, S Xizang, S Yunnan (Jinping, Pingbian) [NE India, Laos, Myanmar, N Thailand, Vietnam].

This species is reported here for the first time from Vietnam (Kon Tum Province, D. K. Harder et al. 4580, MO).