青江藤 qing jiang teng

Celastrus cantonensis Hance; C. xizangensis Y. R. Li.

Evergreen twining shrubs; branchlets terete, gray or purple, with very sparse lenticels; axial buds ovate-triangular, 1-1.5 mm. Petiole 6-10 mm; leaf blade narrowly rectangular-elliptic, or narrowly ovate-elliptic to elliptic-oblanceolate, 7-14 × 3-6 cm, papery or leathery, often gray-green when dry, base cuneate or rounded, margin sparsely serrate, apex acute, caudate-acuminate to acuminate; secondary veins 5-7 pairs, veinlets between secondary veins parallel, prominent. Thyrses terminal and axillary, 5-14 cm, axillary inflorescences 1-3-flowered; pedicels 4-5 mm, jointed at upper middle. Flowers lightly green; sepals approximately semicircular, imbricate, ca. 1 mm; petals rectangular, ca. 2.5 mm, margin ciliate. Disk cupuliform, membranous, shallowly lobed, lobe triangular. Stamens inserted on margin of disk; filament subulate; anther ovate-orbicular. Pistils ampullaceous; ovary approximately globose; styles ca. 1 mm; stigma slightly 3-lobed; anther of staminodia hastate. Fruits approximately globose, 7-9 × 6.5-8.5 mm; style persistent on young fruit, up to 1.5 mm, valves slightly rugose. Seed broadly elliptic to globose, 5-8 mm; aril orange. Fl. May-Jul, fr. Jul-Oct.

Forests, thickets, mountainous regions; 300-2500 m. Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hainan, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi, Sichuan, Taiwan, E Xizang, Yunnan [NE India, Malaysia, Myanmar, N Vietnam].