对节刺 dui jie ci

Sageretia perpusilla C. K. Schneider.

Shrubs evergreen, erect, ca. 2 m tall, spinescent. Branchlets opposite or subopposite, red-brown or black-brown, puberulent. Leaves alternate or subopposite, often distichously arranged; stipules lanceolate-subulate, minute, caducous; petiole 1-2 mm, puberulent; leaf blade adaxially yellow-green when dry, oblong or ovate-elliptic, 5-20 × 3-11 mm, leathery, both surfaces glabrous, lateral veins 4 or 5 pairs, reticulate veins inconspicuous, base subrounded, margin serrulate or entire, apex rounded, rarely acute, often mucronate. Flowers white, small, sessile, glabrous, in terminal spikes or spicate panicles; rachis ± densely puberulent, ca. 9 cm. Sepals triangular-ovate, adaxially medially keeled and hooded, apex acute. Petals spatulate or obovate-lanceolate, shorter than sepals, apex deeply emarginate. Stamens slightly longer than or equaling petals. Ovary glabrous, 3-loculed, with 1 ovule per locule; styles short, thick; stigma capitate, 3-divided. Drupe black-purple at maturity, nearly globose, 4-5.5 mm in diam., with 2 or 3 indehiscent pyrenes. Seeds yellowish, apically slightly emarginate. Fl. Jul-Oct, fr. May-Jun of following year.

● Sparse forests, thickets, open slopes; 700-2800 m. S Gansu, Shaanxi, SW and W Sichuan.

Schneider published the name Sageretia perpusilla based on a gathering from the Mao District in Sichuan with very small leaves (5-8 mm) compared to S. pycnophylla. We checked the type specimen of S. perpusilla and found obvious variation in the shape and size of the leaves. We therefore reduce it to synonymy under S. pycnophylla.