小千金 xiao qian jin

Echinocarpus hederirhizus H. Léveillé; Euonymus xanthocarpus C. Y. Cheng & Z. M. Gu.

Evergreen shrubs, scandent, 2-3 m tall; branches and twigs sturdy, striate, brown or gray-brown when dry. Petiole 8-12 mm; leaf blade leathery, ovate, elliptic, or ovate-elliptic, 7-10 × 3-6 cm, base cuneate or attenuate, margin crenulate distally, nearly entire proximally, apex acute; lateral veins 5 or 6 pairs, disappearing before reaching margin. Peduncle 4-6 cm, 2 or 3 × dichotomously branched, several flowered; pedicel glabrous, 4-5 mm. Flowers 4-merous, small, 6-7 mm in diam.; sepals suborbicular; petals yellow-green, ovate, base cuneate. Ovary densely long prickly; stigma absent. Capsule red when fresh, yellow-brown when dry, nearly globose, 1-1.5 cm in diam., 4-lobed, densely prickly, prickles ca. 6 mm. Aril bright red. Fl. Apr-May, fr. Jul-Sep.

● Forests, scrub; 300-1500 m. ?Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, ?Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Sichuan, Yunnan.

The distribution reports from Guangdong and Henan have not been confirmed.