屏边柃 ping bian ling

Shrubs to 4 m tall. Young branches grayish brown, glabrous or subglabrous; current year branchlets 2-ribbed, slender, sparsely pubescent; terminal buds pubescent. Petiole ca. 3 mm, sparsely pubescent; leaf blade oblong, oblong-lanceolate, or ovate-lanceolate, 5-8 × 1.8-2.5 cm, papery to thinly leathery, abaxially pale green and sparsely pubescent along midvein, adaxially green and glabrous, secondary veins ca. 10 on each side of midvein and slightly raised on both surfaces, base obtuse to subrounded, margin serrulate, apex caudate-acuminate. Flowers axillary, solitary or to 3 in a cluster. Pedicel 1-2 mm, pubescent. Male flowers: bracteoles ovate, ca. 1 mm, outside pubescent; sepals ovate, 1.5-2 mm, outside pubescent, apex subrounded; petals obovate-oblong, ca. 3.5 mm; stamens ca. 12; anthers not locellate; pistillode glabrous. Female flowers: bracteoles and sepals similar to those of male flowers but slightly smaller; petals spatulate, 2-2.5 mm; ovary globose, glabrous, 3-loculed; style ca. 2.5 mm, apically 3-lobed. Fruit globose, ca. 3.5 mm in diam. Fl. Oct-Nov, fr. Jun-Jul.

Forests on mountain slopes or along streams; 1200-1700 m. SE Yunnan [N Vietnam].