长萼连蕊茶 chang e lian rui cha

Camellia lanceisepala L. K. Ling.

Shrubs 1-4 m tall. Young branches grayish brown; current year branchlets straw colored, slender, glabrous. Petiole 2-4 mm, adaxially hirtellous; leaf blade oblong-elliptic, ovate-elliptic, or oblong, 3.7-7.5 × 1.3-3 cm, leathery, abaxially pale green and glabrous, adaxially dark green, shiny, and hirtellous along midvein, secondary veins slightly raised or obscure on both surfaces, base broadly cuneate, margin serrate, apex caudate-acuminate to caudate. Flowers axillary, solitary or paired, 3-3.5 cm in diam. Pedicel 3-8 mm, glabrous, thickened toward apex; bracteoles 4 or 5, linear-lanceolate, 2.5-5 mm, glabrous. Sepals 5, persistent, linear-lanceolate, 5-10 mm, glabrous, margin membranous and ciliolate, apex caudate-acuminate. Petals 5, white, obovate to obovate-lanceolate, 1.5-2 cm, basally slightly connate. Stamens 1.3-1.8 cm, glabrous; outer filament whorl basally connate into a tube. Ovary glabrous, 3-loculed; style ca. 1.5 cm, apically 3-lobed. Capsule not seen. Fl. Feb-Mar.

● Forests; 200-300 m. Fujian (Taining), Guangxi (Quanzhou).