天堂瓜馥木 tian tang gua fu mu

Climbers to 9 m tall. Branchlets densely yellowish pubescent when young, glabrous and lenticellate with age. Petiole 3-5 mm; leaf blade oblong to elliptic-oblong, 8.5-17.5 × 3.2-6 cm, leathery, abaxially yellowish pubescent, adaxially glabrous except for sparsely pubescent midvein, secondary veins 16-18 on each side of midvein, obliquely ascending, anastomosing before margin, and adaxially impressed, base rounded, apex rounded to retuse. Inflorescences leaf-opposed, paniculate, 1-4-flowered, yellowish pubescent; peduncle ca. 1 cm. Pedicel ca. 1.5 cm, bracteolate above middle. Flower buds lanceolate in outline, ca. 2.8 × 0.8 cm. Sepals triangular, ca. 4 × 4 mm, outside pubescent, inside glabrous. Outer petals oblong-lanceolate, ca. 2.5 × 0.8 cm, outside glabrous, inside sparsely pubescent; inner petals narrowly lanceolate, ca. 2.3 × 0.6 cm, glabrous. Stamens oblong; connectives apically truncate. Carpels ovate-oblong, ca. 2.5 mm, densely sericeous pubescent; ovules 6-8 per carpel, in 2 series; stigma apex entire. Monocarp stipes ca. 3 cm, robust; monocarps globose, ca. 1.6 cm in diam., densely yellowish pubescent. Fl. Mar-Nov, fr. Jul-Dec.

● Forested valley slopes; 300-600 m. SW Guangdong, SE Guangxi, Hainan, Yunnan.