黑枝柳 hei zhi liu

Shrubs. Juvenile branchlets dark purple, usually villous basally. Buds glabrous. Petiole to 1.5 cm, pilose or glabrous, sometimes glandular; leaf blade elliptic, obovate-elliptic, or oblong, to 11 × 5 cm, abaxially pale, silky villous or glabrous, adaxially green, glabrous along veins, base cuneate to rounded, margin serrulate or glandular crenate-serrate, rarely sharply serrate or subentire, apex rounded or obtuse; lateral veins 10-12 on each side of midvein. Male catkin unknown. Female catkin to 13 × 1 cm; peduncle 1-2.5 cm, with leaflets; rachis villous; bracts oblong, 1-1.5 mm, abaxially villous, adaxially glabrous, apex rounded or obtuse, flowers subwhorled. Female flower: adaxial gland semiorbicular, shorter than stipe; ovary long ellipsoid-ovoid, 2-2.5 mm, glabrous; stipe ca. 1.5 mm; style ca. 0.5 mm, 2-lobed; stigma 2-lobed. Fl. May.

* Mountains; 2200-3000 m. W Sichuan