谷木 gu mu

Shrubs or trees, 1.5-5(-7) m tall, many-branched. Branches terete or sometimes 4-sided. Petiole 3-5 mm; leaf blade elliptic, ovate, or ovate-lanceolate, 5.5-8 × 2.5-3.5 cm, leathery, both surfaces scabrous, base cuneate, margin entire, apex acuminate with an obtuse tip. Inflorescences in axils of leaves or at leaf scars on older branches, cymose, ca. 1 cm; peduncle 1-3 mm; bracts ovate, ca. 1 mm. Pedicel 1-4 mm, both sides pubescent. Hypanthium semiglobose, 1.5-3 mm. Calyx lobes 4, repand. Petals white or tinged yellowish green or purple, semiorbicular, ca. 3 × 4 mm, apex rounded. Stamens blue, ca. 4.5 mm; anthers and conic connective 1-2 mm, lacking an abaxial gland. Ovary ovoid, apex truncate. Fruit a baccate drupe, globular, ca. 1 cm in diam., minutely tuberculate, apex with a ring. Fl. May-Aug, fr. Dec-Feb.

● Dense forests, mountain slopes, valleys, damp places; 100-1600 m. Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan, Yunnan.