海南五月茶 hai nan wu yue cha

Antidesma fleuryi Gagnepain.

Shrubs up to 4 m tall; young twigs tomentose. Stipules needlelike, (3-)4-6 × ca. 0.2 mm, pubescent, persistent; petiole 3-6(-10) mm, tomentose; leaf blade oblong, more rarely elliptic, 7-15(-23) × 2.5-5.5(-6) cm, papery, glabrous adaxially (rarely with pubescent midvein), hirsute along veins abaxially, dull on both sides, drying grayish green to reddish adaxially, reddish or olive green abaxially, base obtuse, more rarely acute or rounded, apex acuminate, with a mucro; domatia sometimes present; midvein clearly impressed adaxially, all veins very strongly prominent abaxially so adaxial surface often bullate, lateral veins 7 or 8(-10) pairs, tertiary veins reticulate. Inflorescences and infructescences axillary, 2-3 cm, unbranched, axes pubescent. Male flowers: pedicels 0.3-0.4 mm; sepals 4, rounded, ca. 0.7 mm in diam.; stamens 4; filaments inserted at disk; disk cushion-shaped, pubescent [in bud: filaments inserted very close to rudimentary ovary, either embedded or surrounded by disk]; rudimentary ovary terete. Female flowers: pedicels ca. 0.7 mm, fruiting 1-1.5 mm; sepals 4(or 5), oblong to triangular, 1-1.2 mm; disk pubescent at margin; ovary pubescent; stigmas 3 or 4. Drupes ellipsoid, moderately compressed laterally with distinct abaxial and adaxial ridges, 4-6 × 3-5 mm; style lateral, inserted at ca. 1/4 fruit length. Fl. Apr-Jul, fr. Aug-Nov.

Dense forests; 300-1000 m. Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan, Yunnan [Laos, Vietnam].

The second author has not seen mature male flowers and has seen only material from Hainan and Vietnam.