广东叶下珠 guang dong ye xia zhu

Shrubs ca. 1 m tall, monoecious, glabrous throughout; stem and branches terete. Stipules broadly ovate, ca. 1 mm; petiole 2-3 mm; leaf blade elliptic or ovate, 3-4.5 × 1.3-1.7 cm, papery, base rounded, apex shortly acuminate; lateral veins 6-9 pairs, usually obscure. Inflorescences axillary, 1- or 2-flowered, male along proximal part of branchlets, female distal. Male flowers: pedicels delicate, 5-7 mm; sepals 4, broadly ovate, ca. 2 × 1.5 mm, red, entire; disk 4-lobed, lobes semiorbicular; stamens 2; filaments connate into short column; thecae longitudinally dehiscent. Female flowers: pedicels 2-5 cm; sepals 6, broadly ovate, ca. 3 × 2 mm, persistent in fruit; disk discoid, surrounding ovary base; ovary globose, 3-celled; styles 3, spreading, adnate to ovary at apex, bifid at apex, lobes revolute. Fruiting pedicels 2.5-5 cm; capsules globose, to 7 mm in diam. Fl. Oct-Nov, fr. Nov-Dec.

● Montane sparse forests; 300-500 m. SW and W Guangdong.