海南买麻藤 hai nan mai ma teng

Vines slender, fragile. Petiole 0.8-1.2 cm; leaf blade glossy, oblong-elliptic or oblong-ovate, 10-15(-30) × 3-7.5 cm, leathery, lateral veins 6-8 on each side. Male inflorescences simple or once branched; male spikes 1.5-3 cm × 3-4 mm, involucral collars 12-20, each collar with (40-)60-80(-90) flowers plus 15-20(-30) sterile female flowers, basal hairs forming a dense cushion. Female inflorescences borne on old branches, axillary, once branched, 10-15 cm in fruit; female spikes with 10-20 involucral collars, rachis thick, nodes each with 8 or 9 female flowers. Seeds sessile or nearly so, red, cylindric to broadly ellipsoid, (1.5-)1.9-2.1(-2.5) × 1.1-1.4(-1.6) cm, thinly fleshy, base rounded, apex acute or with a small, pointed head in center, outer coat ± smooth when dried. Pollination Feb-Jul, seed maturity Jul-Dec.

* Forests; 100-900 m. S Fujian (Zhao’an Xian), Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hainan, SE Yunnan (Funing Xian)

This name was invalid as originally described (C. Y. Cheng in W. C. Cheng & al., Acta Phytotax. Sin. 13(4): 88. 1975) because two types (male and female) were designated.