四川厚皮香 si chuan hou pi xiang

Shrubs or trees, 3-8 m tall. Bark blackish brown, smooth. Young branches grayish brown; current year branchlets reddish brown, glabrous. Petiole 5-10 mm; leaf blade elliptic to oblong-elliptic, 6-9 × 2.8-4 cm, leathery to thinly leathery, abaxially pale green to pale yellowish green, adaxially dark green, both surfaces glabrous, midvein abaxially elevated and adaxially impressed, secondary veins 6 or 7 on each side of midvein and obscure, base broadly cuneate to rarely cuneate, margin entire, apex shortly acuminate to acute and with an obtuse tip. Flowers axillary, solitary or several clustered on leafless branchlets. Pedicel 1-1.5 cm, slender, thickening toward apex. Male flowers: bracteoles ovate-triangular to ovate-lanceolate, 1-2.5 × 1-1.5 mm, apex acute; sepals ovate-oblong to oblong, 3-4.5 × 2-3.5 mm, margin glandular dentate, apex rounded to obtuse; petals pale yellow, obovate, 6-7 × ca. 6 mm, apex rounded to slightly emarginate; stamens ca. 45, 4-5 mm; anthers oblong, 2-2.5 mm; pistillode very small. Bisexual flowers not seen. Fruit purplish red when mature, ovoid, 10-12 × ca. 8 mm, 2-loculed with 2 seeds per locule, apex acute; pedicel 1-1.5 cm; bracteoles persistent; persistent sepals oblong, 4-5 × 3-3.5 mm; persistent style ca. 1 mm, apically 2-parted. Seeds long ovate-semiorbicular, ca. 7 × 4 mm. Fl. Jun-Jul, fr. Aug-Oct.

● Forests or thickets on mountain slopes; 600-1800 m. Guizhou, Sichuan.