7. Mussaenda divaricata Hutchinson in Sargent, Pl. Wilson. 3: 394. 1916.
展枝玉叶金花 zhan zhi yu ye jin hua
Climbing or suberect shrubs; branchlets terete, sparsely or moderately strigose to densely mixed strigose, -strigillose, and ‑hirtellous, sometimes becoming glabrescent, sometimes with congested groups of leaves borne on reduced axillary buds. Leaves opposite; petiole 0.5-1 cm, densely strigose; blade drying thinly papery, adaxially pale to bright green or brown, abaxially pale gray to bright green, elliptic, lanceolate, elliptic-oblong, or ovate-elliptic, 3.5-12 × 1.5-7 cm, adaxially sparsely strigillose on lamina and densely strigillose on principal veins, abaxially strigillose to glabrous on lamina and densely strigillose along veins, base obtuse to acute, apex acute to abruptly acuminate; secondary veins 5-11 pairs, tertiary venation reticulate to subparallel; stipules usually deciduous, ovate to triangular, 3-7 mm, moderately to densely strigose, deeply 2-lobed, lobes narrowly triangular to subulate. Inflorescence congested to somewhat laxly cymose, 1-2 × 3-4 cm, densely strigose, tripartite and sessile or pedunculate; peduncle 0.3-3.5 cm; bracts narrowly triangular to linear, 1-7 cm, strigose to glabrescent; pedicels to 1.5 mm. Flowers subsessile to pedicellate, biology not noted. Calyx with hypanthium portion ellipsoid to turbinate, 1.5-2 mm, sparsely strigose; lobes subulate, 2.2-5 mm, densely strigillose to strigose, with 1 lobe on 1-3 flowers per inflorescence expanded into white calycophyll, blade broadly elliptic or ovate, 3.5-6 × 3-5 cm, sparsely strigillose on lamina and densely strigillose along veins on both surfaces, base cuneate to truncate, stipe 10-25 mm, apex obtuse to shortly acuminate. Corolla yellow, salverform, densely strigillose outside; tube 18-25 mm, densely yellow clavate pubescent inside upper part; lobes ovate, 3.5-4 mm, adaxially densely yellow papillose, acute to shortly acuminate. Berry ellipsoid, 1-1.2 × 0.4-0.6 cm, sparsely strigillose, on pedicels or stipes to 6 mm. Fl. May-Sep, fr. Oct.
Thickets at riversides, in fields, or in valleys; near sea level to 1400 m. Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hubei, Sichuan, Yunnan [Vietnam].
The illustration of this species presented by H. H. Hsue and H. Wu (in FRPS 71(1): 304, t. 80, f. 1-3. 1999) is difficult to separate from the plants included here in Mussaenda frondosa.
