大卵叶虎刺 da luan ye hu ci

Damnacanthus indicus C. F. Gaertner f. major (Siebold & Zuccarini) Makino; D. indicus subsp. major (Siebold & Zuccarini) T. Yamazaki; D. indicus var. major (Siebold & Zuccarini) Makino ex Nakai.

Shrubs, 1-2 m tall. Roots fleshy, white or pale purple, moniliform. Branches densely hispidulous to hirtellous when young, sometimes becoming glabrescent, terete or sometimes 4-angled, with numerous spines 3-10 mm, persistent. Petiole of developed leaves 1-4 mm, strigillose to hirtellous; leaf blade drying papery, broadly ovate, ovate, or elliptic-ovate, 3-4 × 1.5-2 cm, adaxially glabrous, abaxially glabrous or sometimes sparsely hispidulous along veins, base obtuse or rounded, margins flat and entire, apex acute; midrib thinly prominent adaxially; secondary veins 3-5 pairs; stipules quickly fragmenting or caducous, interpetiolar, broadly triangular, 0.5-1 mm, strigillose to glabrescent, obtuse to acute. Inflorescences strigillose. Pedicels ca. 1 mm. Calyx strigillose or puberulent; hypanthium portion obconic, 1-2 mm; limb ca. 2 mm, deeply lobed; lobes narrowly to broadly triangular. Corolla white, outside glabrous; tube ca. 11 mm; lobes ovate-triangular, ca. 4 mm. Drupes 5-10 mm in diam. Fl. Apr, fr. winter.

Sparse forests and thickets on mountains; 600-700 m. Guangdong, Zhejiang [Japan, Korea].

These plants were treated as a subspecies of Damnacanthus indicus in the Fl. Japan (3a: 224-225. 1993) and also considered there to be restricted to Japan and Korea.