木果海桐 mu guo hai tong

Shrubs to 3 m tall. Young branchlets slender, glabrous; old branchlets lenticellate. Leaves clustered at branchlet apex, biennial; petiole 6–15 mm; leaf blade yellow-brown abaxially after drying, green and shiny adaxially, oblanceolate or narrowly long elliptic, 6–13 × 2–4.5 cm, thinly leathery, glabrous abaxially, lateral veins 11–15-paired, slightly convex abaxially, slightly prominent adaxially, reticulate veins indistinct, base cuneate, margin flat, apex acuminate. Inflorescences terminal, umbellate or corymbose, glabrous; peduncle ca. 5 mm; bracts ca. 2 mm, membranous, caducous; pedicels unequal, 4–12 mm; flowers fragrant. Sepals slightly connate at base, slightly shiny, ovate, unequal, 1.5–2 mm. Petals proximally connate into a tube for ca. 2/3 their length, yellow, narrowly lanceolate, ca. 1.2 cm. Stamens ca. 8 mm; anther ca. 2 mm. Ovary long ovoid, ca. 5 mm; placentas (2 or)3; ovules 2–5 per placenta; stipe short, pubescent. Style ca. 3 mm. Capsule ovoid, ca. 1.5 cm, dehiscing by (2 or)3 valves; pericarp woody, 1.5–2 mm thick, horizontally striate. Seeds 4–8, red, becoming black after drying, 3–4 mm; funicle 1–1.5 mm. Fl. Apr–May, fr. Jun–Oct.

Damp places in forests, forest margins, thickets, slopes; 200--1500 m. Guizhou, W Hubei, Sichuan, NE Yunnan (Zhenxiong Xian).