21. Gaultheria leucocarpa Blume, Bijdr. Fl. Ned. Ind. 856. 1826.
白果白珠 bai guo bai zhu
Shrubs erect, 0.5–2 m tall, glabrous. Twigs terete, often flexuous. Leaves scattered; petiole 3–8 mm; leaf blade ovate, elliptic, or oblong-lanceolate, 4–14.5 × 2–6.5 cm, papery, rarely thickly so, abaxially inconspicuously papillate, secondary veins 3 or 4 pairs, fine veins raised abaxially, slightly raised or slightly impressed adaxially, base obtuse to rounded or subcordate, margin serrate, apex acuminate to caudate-acuminate. Inflorescences axillary, racemose, 3–6(–10) cm, (1–)4–12-flowered, slender, often flexuous; bracts triangular-lanceolate, ca. 2.5 mm. Pedicel usually recurved, 3–9 mm; bracteoles apical, broadly ovate, densely ciliolate. Calyx lobes broadly triangular, ca. 1.5 mm, ciliolate. Corolla white, campanulate, 6–7 mm; lobes triangular, 1.5–2 mm. Filaments spindle-shaped, ca. 1.8 mm, papillate, glabrous; anthers 0.8–1.2 mm, thecae 2-awned. Ovary densely sericeous. Calyx at fruiting purplish black; capsule globose or depressed-globose, 4–7 mm in diam., tomentellous. Fl. May–Sep, fr. Jun–Dec.
Forests, thickets, slopes; 500–3000(–3300) m. Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi, Sichuan, Taiwan, Yunnan [Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam].
Three varieties occur in China; var. leucocarpa occurs in Indonesia and Malaysia and var. cumingiana (Vidal) T. Z. Hsu is endemic to the Philippines.
