柳树寄生 liu shu ji sheng

Shrubs 0.5-1 m tall. Branches blackish, conspicuously angular when dried, often very minutely transversely wrinkled, young branchlets glabrous. Leaves alternate, sometimes subopposite or a few fascicled on short shoots; petiole 2-4 mm; leaf blade ovate, or elliptic to lanceolate, 3-5 × 1.5-2 cm, leathery, both surfaces glabrous, lateral veins 3 or 4 pairs, base cuneate, slightly decurrent, apex obtuse. Umbels solitary or 2 together, sometimes at leafless node, 2-4-flowered; peduncle 0-2 mm; bracts ovate, ca. 2 mm, glabrous, rarely long bearded at tip. Pedicel 1-6 mm. Calyx ellipsoid, ca. 2.5 mm, limb annular, entire or minutely 4-toothed. Mature bud 2-3 cm, tip ellipsoid. Corolla red, slightly curved, glabrous, lobes lanceolate, 3-9 mm, reflexed. Filaments ca. 2 mm; anthers 1.5-4 mm. Stigma capitate. Berry yellow or orange, ellipsoid, 8-10 × ca. 4 mm. Fl. Feb-Jul, fr. May-Sep.

Forests, mountain slopes; 1500-3500 m. NW Guangxi, W Guizhou, Sichuan, E Xizang, Yunnan [Myanmar, N Vietnam].