四川胡颓子 si chuan hu tui zi

Shrubs, deciduous, much branched, 0.9-1.2 m tall. Spines to 1 cm, slender; older branches gray, glabrous; young branches rust-colored. Petiole rust-colored, 2-3 mm, slender; leaf blade elliptic, 1.7-2.5 × 0.9-1.1 cm, stiff, leathery, abaxially with overlapping silvery scales and scattered brown scales, adaxially very sparsely scaly when young, then glabrous, lateral veins usually 4 per side of midrib, slightly raised abaxially, indistinct adaxially, base rounded, margin entire, apex rounded or subacute. Flowers solitary in axils of deciduous bracts on new shoots. Pedicel ca. 1.5 mm. Flowers scaly outside, scales mostly silvery, some brown. Calyx tube campanulate, ca. 3 mm; lobes broadly ovate, both surfaces with rust-colored and silvery scales. Filaments very short; anthers ellipsoid, ca. 2 × as long as filaments. Style densely pubescent; stigma incurved. Fruit not seen.

● On rocks. Sichuan.

The placement of this species is very uncertain, as the leaf blade is said to be stiff and leathery but also deciduous, and there is no information on the time of flowering. The very small, Buxus-like leaves seem distinctive.