陵水胡椒 ling shui hu jiao

Climbers woody, glabrous except for rachis, dioecious. Stems 2-3 mm thick, ridged. Petiole 1-1.5 cm; prophyll 2-3 mm; leaf blade ovate to suborbicular, rarely broadly elliptic, 10-17 × 5.5-9 cm, thin leathery, without glands, base obtuse or slightly tapered, ± symmetric, apex acute; veins 7(-9), apical pair arising 1.5-3 cm above base, reaching leaf apex, others basal; reticulate veins prominent. Spikes leaf-opposed. Male spikes ca. 9 cm × 1.2 mm; peduncle shorter than petioles; rachis pubescent; bracts obovate-oblong, ca. 1.4 × 0.6 mm, adnate to rachis, sides free, peltate. Stamens 3; filaments thick, short. Female spikes 7-10 cm, to 16 cm in fruit; peduncle and rachis as in male spikes; bracts oblong, ca. 3.2 × 1.3 mm, base slightly tapered, otherwise as in male spikes. Drupe globose, ca. 5 mm in diam., base tapered into a stalk 3-4 mm. Fl. Oct-Jan.

* Forests, on trees; circa 800 m. Hainan