纤细荛花 xian xi rao hua

Daphne rehderi Halda, nom. illeg. superfl.

Shrubs to 1 m tall. Branches very slender, turning brownish striate, long strigose; leaf buds ovoid, white pubescent or tomentose. Leaves opposite or subopposite, sometimes in whorls of 3; petiole ca. 1 mm; leaf blade green adaxially, grayish green abaxially, elliptic or ovate-orbicular to oblong, 1.5-5 × 0.8-2.8 cm, membranous, both surfaces sparsely strigose, glabrescent, base broadly cuneate to ± rounded, apex obtuse; lateral veins 5 or 6 pairs, slender. Inflorescences terminal, racemose, sometimes in small panicles; peduncle short. Calyx yellow; tube broadly cylindric, ca. 10 mm, exterior appressed hairy; lobes 4, elliptic, ca. 2 mm, reticulate veins obvious. Stamens 8, inserted in calyx tube. Disk scales 2, one linear and one oblong. Ovary stipitate, apex pubescent; style short; stigma capitate. Fruit not seen. Fl. autumn.

● Forests, shaded places on slopes; ca. 1100 m. Hubei, Sichuan.

When Halda published the nomen novum Daphne rehderi for this species (blocking name: D. gracilis E. Pritzel), he included D. rehderi subsp. techinensis (S. C. Huang) Halda, based on Wikstroemia techinensis S. C. Huang. Because the epithet of W. techinensis was available at species rank in Daphne and should have been so used (with W. gracilis as a subspecies), the name D. rehderi was nomenclaturally superfluous when published and is therefore illegitimate.