五棱苦丁茶 wu leng ku ding cha

Trees evergreen, 8-12 m tall. Current year’s branchlets castaneous when dry, stout, 5-6 mm in diam., glabrous, longitudinally sharply angular; terminal buds ovoid-conical, ca. 6 mm, glabrescent or very shortly puberulent. Petiole 2-2.5 cm, abaxially rugose, adaxially narrowly sulcate, glabrous; leaf blade abaxially greenish, adaxially dark green, slightly shiny, narrowly elliptic to elliptic, 7.5-20 × 3-7.5 cm, leathery, both surfaces glabrous, midvein deeply narrowly sulcate adaxially, lateral veins 12 pairs, evident or indistinct abaxially, slightly raised adaxially, furcate and anastomosing near margin, reticulate veins obscure abaxially, evident adaxially, base cuneate to obtusely rounded, margin sparsely and shallowly serrulate, slightly reflexed, apex obtuse or acute. Flowers not known. Infructescences: 1-fruited cymes, pseudoracemose, axillary on first to second year’s branchlets; central axis 5-10 mm, robust, glabrous, longitudinally angular and sulcate; fruiting pedicels 5-6 mm, glabrous; bracteoles ovate, ca. 1.5 mm, apex obtuse, minutely ciliate. Fruit (immature) globose, 6-8 mm in diam., rugose when dry; persistent calyx explanate, orbicular, ca. 3 mm in diam., minutely ciliate; persistent stigma discoid, slightly impressed; pyrenes 4, oblong-ellipsoid or ovoid-globose, 5-6 mm, 3-4 mm in diam., abaxially striate and sulcate. Fl. unknown, fr. May, Sep-Oct.

● Forests on limestone hills; 300-600 m or 1400-1500 m. W Guangxi (Daxin, Tian’e), Guizhou (Suiyang), Hunan (Baojing), SE Yunnan (Xichou).