美登木 mei deng mu

Gymnosporia acuminata J. D. Hooker ex M. A. Lawson, Fl. Brit. India 1: 619. 1875, not Maytenus acuminata (Linnaeus) Loesener (1942); Maytenus hookeri var. longiradiata S. J. Pei & Y. H. Li.

Shrubs, 1-4 m tall; twigs slender, sometimes trailing, sparsely thorny or unarmed, older branches typically thorny. Petiole 5-12 mm; leaf blade elliptic or oblong-ovate, 8-20 × 3.5-8 cm, papery, or thinly papery, base cuneate or broadly cuneate, margin crenate, apex acuminate; lateral veins tenuous, 5-8 pairs. Cymes 1-6, fascicled, each cyme 2-4(or 5) × monochasially branched or once dichotomously branched; peduncle slender, various in length, 2-5(-10) mm, sometimes absent; pedicel slender, 3-5 mm, 1-1.2 cm when fruiting. Flowers small, white-green, 3-5 mm in diam. Filament ca. 2 mm. Ovary 2-celled; stigma 2-lobed. Capsule obovoid, flat, 0.6-1.2 cm, usually 2-valved. Seeds oblong-ovate; aril white, yellowish when dry. Fl. Dec-Jun, fr. Jun-Nov.

Sparse forests, mountain slopes, mountain valleys; 600-1200 m. Yunnan [Bhutan, India (Darjeeling)].

This species is used for medicinal purposes.