火棘叶柃 huo ji ye ling

Shrubs 1-3 m tall. Young branches brown to grayish brown, pubescent to subglabrous; current year branchlets terete, densely yellowish brown pubescent; terminal buds yellowish brown pubescent. Petiole ca. 1.5 mm; leaf blade obovate to obovate-spatulate, 2-3.5 × 1-1.5 cm, leathery, abaxially pale green, glabrous or sparsely pubescent along midvein, and becoming yellowish green when dry, adaxially dark green and glabrous, midvein abaxially elevated and adaxially impressed, secondary veins 4 or 5 on each side of midvein, secondary and reticulate veins abaxially slightly raised and adaxially slightly impressed, base broadly cuneate, margin crenate-serrulate, apex rounded to obtuse and with a retuse tip. Flowers axillary, 2-4 in a cluster. Pedicel 1.5-2 mm, glabrous. Male flowers: bracteoles ovate, ca. 0.7 mm; sepals ovate, ca. 2 mm, outside glabrous, margin ciliolate and ± glandular or sometimes only glandular, apex rounded and mucronate; petals obovate, 2-2.5 mm; stamens 5(or 6); anthers not locellate; pistillode glabrous. Female flowers: bracteoles, sepals, and petals similar to those of male flowers; ovary ovoid, glabrous, 3-loculed; style ca. 0.7 mm, apically 3-lobed. Fruit ovoid, ca. 4 × 3 mm. Fl. Nov-Dec, fr. Jul-Aug.

● Forests or thickets on mountain slopes; 1200-2600 m. E and W Yunnan.