台湾茶藨子 tai wan cha biao zi

Shrubs to 2 m tall. Branchlets stout, glabrous to sparsely pubescent; nodal spines 3, robust, to 1.3 cm; internodes unarmed. Buds ovoid, 2-4 mm, apex acute; scales scarious. Leaves 1-3-clustered at branchlet apex; petiole 1-2 cm, minutely pubescent; leaf blade suborbicular, 1.5-2 cm, sparsely puberulent, base truncate to shallowly cordate; lobes 3-5, reaching about halfway to leaf blade base, margin coarsely obtusely dentate, apex obtuse; terminal lobe slightly longer than lateral ones. Flowers often 1 per leaf axil, bisexual; bracts 2 per node, ovate, 2-4 mm, 3-veined, margin stalked glandular; pedicel 1-1.5 cm, sparsely pubescent or stalked glandular. Calyx minutely pubescent; tube cylindric, 7-10 mm, glabrous adaxially; lobes reflexed, spreading in fruit, oblong to elliptic, 7-9 mm. Petals scalelike, 4-5 mm. Stamens slightly longer than petals. Ovary subglobose, glabrous. Style glabrous, apex 2-lobed. Fruit red, globose, 0.8-1 cm, glabrous. Fl. May-Jun, fr. Jul-Aug.

* Coniferous or mixed forests; 2500-3800 m. Taiwan.