中华青荚叶 zhong hua qing jia ye

Shrubs evergreen, 1–2 m tall; bark dark gray or light grayish brown; young branches purplish green. Leaf petiole 0.5–2 (–4) cm; stipules narrowly linear; leaf blade abaxially light green, linear-lanceolate or narrowly lanceolate, rarely elliptic or ovate-lanceolate, 4–15 × 0.4–2(–4) cm, leathery, rarely thickly papery, veins 6–8, inconspicuous, base cuneate or ± rounded, margin sparsely glandular spiculate-serrate, rarely crenate, sometimes revolute, apex long acuminate. Umbels near mid point of midvein on adaxial surface of blade or on upper part of young branches. Flowers of staminate umbels 4 or 5, 3–5-merous; pedicel 2–10(–14) mm. Flowers of carpellate umbels 1–3, nearly sessile or pedicel to 2 mm; stigma 3–5-divided. Fruit oblong, ca. 5–7(–9) mm in diam. Seeds 3–5, 3–5-ridged (grooved); pedicel 1–2 mm. Fl. Apr–May, fr. Aug–Oct.

Broad-leaved forests, mixed woods, thickets on slopes; 1000–2600 m. S Gansu, Guizhou, W Hubei, Hunan, S Shaanxi, Sichuan, SE Xizang, Yunnan [N Myanmar, Thailand].

Lower Taxa

• Helwingia chinensis var. chinensis
• Helwingia chinensis var. crenata (Lingelsheim ex Limpricht) W. P. Fang