瑞香 rui xiang

Daphne chinensis Sprengel; D. hybrida Lindley; D. japonica Thunberg (1792), not Siebold & Zuccarini (1846); D. kiusiana Miquel var. odora (Thunberg) Makino; D. mazelii Carrière; D. odora f. alba (Hemsley) H. Hara; D. odora var. alba Hemsley; D. odora var. leucantha Makino; D. odora f. marginata Makino; D. odora var. marginata Miquel; D. odora var. mazelii (Carrière) Hemsley; D. odora f. rosacea (Makino) H. Hara; D. odora var. rosacea Makino; D. odora var. variegata Bean; D. sinensis Lamarck; D. speciosissima Carrière; D. triflora Loureiro.

Shrubs evergreen, to 1.5 m tall. Branches purplish red to purplish brown, stout, glabrous. Leaves alternate; petiole 4-5 mm, glabrous or sparsely puberulous; leaf blade obovate or obovate-elliptic, 6-13 × 2.5-5 cm, leathery, both surfaces glabrous, base cuneate, apex subacute, often apiculate; veins 7-13 pairs. Inflorescences terminal, capitate, up to 12(-20)-flowered; bracts lanceolate or ovate-lanceolate, 5-12 × 2-4 mm, glabrous. Flowers fragrant. Calyx purplish red abaxially with pinkish red to white lobes; tube 6-10 mm, exterior glabrous; lobes 4, ovate or ovate-lanceolate, 6-12 mm, base auriculate, apex obtuse. Stamens 8, lower whorl inserted just above middle of calyx tube, upper whorl in throat; filaments ca. 0.7 mm; anthers oblong, ca. 2 mm; upper ones 1/2 exserted from calyx tube. Disk annular, very narrow. Ovary oblong, glabrous; style short; stigma capitate. Drupe scarlet-red, globose, ca. 8 mm. Fl. Mar-May, fr. Jul-Aug.

Widely cultivated in China [native origin obscure, probably China or Japan but now widely cultivated].