菠叶柃 bo ye ling

Eurya leptophylla var. tsushanensis Y. C. Liu & F. Y. Lu.

Shrubs. Young branches grayish brown, glabrous or glabrescent; current year branchlets terete, slender, densely yellowish brown pubescent; terminal buds pubescent. Petiole 1-2 mm, glabrous; leaf blade oblong, oblong-lanceolate, or elliptic-lanceolate, 2.5-3.5 × 1-1.5 cm, thinly leathery, abaxially pale green and pubescent along midvein or glabrescent, adaxially dark green, slightly shiny, and glabrous, midvein abaxially elevated and adaxially impressed, secondary veins 5-7 on each side of midvein, abaxially ± visible, and adaxially obscure, base cuneate, margin obtusely serrate, apex acuminate to acute and with an obtuse tip. Flowers axillary, solitary or to 3 in a cluster. Pedicel ca. 2 mm, slender, glabrous. Male flowers: bracteoles very small; sepals suborbicular, 1.5-2 mm, glabrous, apex rounded and retuse with a mucronate tip; petals oblong, ca. 3 mm; stamens 7 or 8; anthers not locellate; pistillode glabrous. Female flowers: bracteoles and sepals similar to those of male flowers but slightly smaller; petals oblong to ovate, ca. 2 mm; ovary ovoid, glabrous, 3-loculed; style ca. 1 mm, apically 3-lobed. Fruit globose, 2-3 mm in diam. Fl. Feb-Mar, fr. Jun-Sep.

● Forests or thickets on mountain slopes; 1300-3000 m. C and E Taiwan.