河头山五月茶 he tou shan wu yue cha

Shrubs; branches terete, gray-brown; branchlets, terminal bud, midvein, petioles, inflorescences, and sepals outside pubescent. Petiole 1-1.5 cm; leaf blade elliptic or ovate-elliptic, 8-13 × 3-7 cm, papery, glabrous on both surfaces, base rounded to obtuse, apex acuminate; midvein concave adaxially, convex abaxially, lateral veins 6 or 7 pairs, elevated on both surfaces, reticulate veins prominent. Flowers dioecious. Male flowers grouped into axillary, 8-12 cm paniculate spikes; bractlets obovate, ca. 0.5 mm, apex obtuse; sepals 3 or 4, broadly ovate, ca. 1 mm wide; stamens 4; filaments ca. 0.8 mm, inserted outside disk; rudimentary ovary puberulent. Female flowers: sepals and disk as in male; ovary pubescent. Drupes subglobose, ca. 3 mm in diam., puberulent. Fl. May-Jul, fr. Aug-Oct.

● Sparse forests or scrub; ca. 300 m. Taiwan (Hetao Shan, Lan Yu).

Antidesma hontaushanense is known only from the type collection, which has not been seen. It is possible that it is conspecific with A. pleuricum Tulasne from the Philippines but the available information is inadequate to confirm that it is this or one of another, rather similar, species recorded from the Philippines.