穗萼叶下珠 sui e ye xia zhu

Shrubs, ca. 1 m tall, monoecious; stem gray-brown, hispid; branches terete, to 70 cm, hispid. Stipules ovate-lanceolate, 3-5 mm; petiole ca. 3 mm, hispid; leaf blade oblong or oblong-ovate, 7-12 × 3-4.5 cm, papery, abaxially scurfy-hairy, adaxially glabrous, base rounded, oblique, apex shortly acuminate; lateral veins 7 or 8 pairs. Inflorescence an axillary cyme, 3-7-flowered, those along proximal part of branchlet male, distal inflorescences female; peduncle short; bracts lanceolate, membranous. Male flowers: pedicels filamentous, 1-1.5 cm, sparsely pubescent; sepals 4, oblong-ovate, ca. 2 mm, purple, puberulent outside, glabrous inside, margin fimbriate; disk glands 4; stamens 4; filaments connate; anthers transversely dehiscent. Female flowers: pedicels ca. 1 cm, thicker at apex, pubescent; sepals 5, oblong-elliptic, ca. 3 × 1.5 mm, both surfaces puberulent, margin fimbriate; disk cup-shaped, as long as ovary and enclosing it, apex slightly undulate; ovary subglobose, 3-celled; styles 3, deeply bifid at apex, lobes erect, linear. Fl. Jun-Sep, fr. Aug-Oct.

● Valley scrub, sparse forests; 1000-1100 m. SW Yunnan.