革叶荛花 ge ye rao hua

Daphne scytophylla (Diels) Halda.

Shrubs evergreen, 0.5-3 m tall, densely branched. Branches pale yellowish green, turning purplish or grayish brown, nearly 4-angled, glabrous. Upper leaves usually opposite; petiole short, ca. 1 mm, glabrous; leaf blade whitish green abaxially, oblanceolate to oblong, 2-4 × 0.3-1.2 cm, leathery, both surfaces glabrous, base cuneate to broadly cuneate, apex apiculate; lateral veins at narrow angle to midrib, obscure abaxially, conspicuous adaxially. Inflorescences terminal or axillary, racemose, solitary, usually pendulous at anthesis; peduncle 2-4 cm, rachis elongated during anthesis, slightly thickened and succulent, stouter and stronger than peduncle, glabrous; rachis conspicuously scarred after fruit shed. Pedicel ca. 1 mm, articulate, glabrous. Calyx yellow; tube narrowly cylindric-trumpet-shaped, ca. 10 × 1 mm, exterior glabrous; lobes 5, ovate, ca. 1 mm, margin undulate, apex obtuse. Stamens 10, lower whorl inserted above middle of calyx tube, upper whorl in throat; filaments short; anthers oblong, 1-1.2 mm, included within calyx tube. Disk scale 1, oblong-ovate, ca. 0.5 mm. Ovary fusiform, ca. 4 mm, sparsely sericeous-pubescent; style short; stigma capitate. Drupe brownish purple, ovoid, ca. 5 mm, base narrowed, enclosed by persistent calyx. Fl. between summer and autumn, fr. winter.

● Dry shrubby slopes, on limestone; 1900-3000 m. Sichuan, Xizang, Yunnan.