蜀枣 shu zao

Small trees or shrubs, 2-3 m tall, spinose. Young branches red-brown, densely pilose; old branches gray-brown, flexuose, glabrous. Leaves alternate, or 2 or 3 in fascicles; stipular spines 2, both erect or one recurved, 1-1.6 cm, slender; petiole 5-8 mm, sparsely pilose; leaf blade abaxially pale green, adaxially dark green, ovate or ovate-oblong, 2-4 × 1.5-3 cm, papery, abaxially glabrous to clustered hairy in vein axils, adaxially glabrous, 3-veined from base, veins prominent on both surfaces, midvein without conspicuous secondary veins, base asymmetric, subrounded, margin crenate-serrate, apex obtuse or rounded. Flowers yellow-green, few- to 10-fascicled in axils of leaves, without peduncles. Pedicel 4-5 mm, ferruginous pilose. Sepals ovate-triangular, densely ferruginous pubescent, apex acute. Petals spatulate. Stamens shorter than petals. Ovary globose, glabrous; style 2-fid. Drupe yellow-green, globose, 1.2-1.5 cm in diam., apex mucronulate, with persistent calyx tube at base; fruiting pedicel 5-7 mm, sparsely pilose; mesocarp thin, corky; endocarp cartilaginous; stone ca. 4 mm, 2-loculed, with 2 seeds. Seeds compressed, convex on one face, obovoid, ca. 8 × 8-9 mm. Fl. unknown, fr. Jul-Aug.

● Riverbanks; ca. 2800 m. W Sichuan (Xiangcheng).