木兰寄生 mu lan ji sheng

Shrubs 0.5-1.5 m tall, young stems and branchlets tomentose, becoming glabrous, hairs deep brown or yellowish brown, stellate, sometimes also some scattered verticillate hairs. Branches grayish brown, scattered lenticellate. Leaves opposite or subopposite; petiole 5-12 mm; leaf blade oblong, ovate-oblong, or obovate, 5-12 × 2.5-6 cm, leathery, both surfaces rapidly glabrescent, lateral veins 4-7 pairs, adaxially prominent or not when dried, base cuneate, frequently decurrent into petiole, margin entire and recurved, apex short acuminate or obtuse. Umbels 1-3, sometimes at leafless node, 2-6-flowered; peduncle 2-6 mm, dark brown or yellowish brown stellate tomentose; bracts ovate, ca. 1 mm. Pedicel 3-4 mm. Calyx narrowly ovoid, 1.5-2.5 mm, limb annular, entire or minutely 4-toothed. Mature bud 2.7-3.5 cm, tip enlarged, ellipsoid. Corolla red or orange, slightly curved, sparsely hairy at anthesis, hairs closely adpressed with few rays, basal part inflated, lobes lanceolate, 8-10 mm, reflexed. Filaments 1.5-2 mm; anthers 4-7 mm. Stigma capitate. Berry yellowish to reddish, ellipsoid, 7-9 × 3-5 mm, verrucose, pilose, becoming glabrous and somewhat muriculate.

Forests, mountain slopes, valleys; 200-2200 m. Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hunan, Jiangxi, E Sichuan, Taiwan, Yunnan [Thailand, Vietnam].

Recorded hosts include species of Euphorbiaceae, Fagaceae, Hamamelidaceae, Lauraceae, Magnoliaceae, Oleaceae, Sterculiaceae, and Theaceae.