大叶木莲红 da ye mu lian hong

Shrubs, to 2 m tall; branches pubescent. Leaves opposite or ternate; petiole 0.8-1.8 cm, pubescent; blade drying thinly leathery, obovate-oblong or elliptic, 14.5-18 × 6-7 cm, adaxially glabrous or sparsely puberulent along principal veins, abaxially sparsely pubescent with pubescence denser along principal veins, base cuneate, apex shortly acuminate; secondary veins 10 or 11 pairs; stipules generally persistent, pandurate, 7.5-9 × 2.5-3 mm, nearly as wide as to slightly wider than branches, apex spreading, rounded. Inflorescence paniculate, pyramidal in outline, ca. 12 × 12-15 cm, branched to 2 or 3 orders, yellowish brown pubescent, sessile and tripartite or pedunculate; peduncle 1.8-3 cm. Flowers sessile. Calyx pubescent; hypanthium portion ca. 1.8 mm; limb lobed nearly to base; lobes ovate to deltoid, ca. 1 mm. Corolla white, tubular-salverform, outside glabrous; tube 2-3 mm, white villous inside upper part; lobes rounded to spatulate, ca. 1 mm. Anthers elliptic, ca. 0.7 mm, subsessile, partially exserted. Stigma 2-lobed. Capsules not seen. Fl. Mar.

● Dense forests. Guangxi (Shangsi).

Some of the characters in the description here are augmented with details from the protologue figure.