褐毛四照花 he mao si zhao hua

Cornus ferruginea Y. C. Wu, Bot. Jahrb. Syst. 71: 199. 1940; Benthamidia ferruginea (Y. C. Wu) H. Hara; Cynoxylon ferrugineum (Y. C. Wu) Pojarkova; Dendrobenthamia ferruginea (Y. C. Wu) W. P. Fang; D. ferruginea var. jiangxiensis W. P. Fang & Y. T. Hsieh.

Shrubs or small trees, evergreen, 5–12(–20) m tall. Bark gray, rough. Young branches densely pubescent with brown trichomes; old branches dark grayish green. Leaf blade narrowly elliptic to broadly elliptic, 8–14 × 3.5–6 cm, subleathery to papery, abaxially powder green (or pale green), pubescent with thick brown or reddish trichomes, later gradually glabrous, veins 4(or 5), conspicuous, with long brown trichomes. Inflorescences ca. 1.1 cm in diam., flowers 60–70; bracts yellowish white, broadly obovate-elliptic, 4–4.5 × 2.5–3 cm, sparsely pubescent with thin appressed trichomes. Calyx tube ca. 1.2 mm, often shallowly 4-lobed, outside pubescent with white and brown trichomes. Petals narrowly elliptic, ca. 2.5 mm, outside sparsely pubescent. Filaments ca. 1.7 mm; anthers yellow, ellipsoid, ca. 0.8 mm. Style ca. 1.5 mm, pubescent with white trichomes. Compound fruit red or greenish at maturity, 3–1.8 cm in diam.; peduncle 8–9.5 cm. Fl. Jun, fr. Oct–Dec.

Forests, valleys, slopes, roadsides; 200–1100 m. Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, ?Hunan, Jiangxi.

The fruit is edible and sweet.