草黄白珠 cao huang bai zhu

Gaultheria wardii C. Marquand & Airy Shaw var. serrulata C. Y. Wu & T. Z. Hsu.

Shrubs 1–3(–4) m tall. Twigs angled, rather slender, densely brown hispid and puberulous. Leaves scattered; petiole 4–5 mm, hispid and puberulous or glabrous; leaf blade oblong-lanceolate or elliptic, 4–7 × 1–2.5 cm, leathery, abaxially appressed-setulose, adaxially glabrous, secondary veins 3–5 pairs, fine veins slightly raised abaxially, base cuneate or broadly cuneate, margin dentate, apex acuminate or acute, mucronulate. Infloresences axillary and terminal, racemose, 1.5–3.5 cm, densely pubescent; bracts ovate, 3–4 mm, puberulous, ciliolate. Pedicel 1–2 mm, densely pubescent; bracteoles 2, subapical, 2–3 mm, abaxially puberulous, adaxially glabrous, margin membranous, ciliolate. Calyx lobes subulate- to narrowly triangular, ca. 2 mm, puberulous, ciliolate. Corolla white, urceolate, 3–4 mm, abaxially glabrous, adaxially pilose; lobes ovate-triangular, very short. Filaments spindle-shaped, ca. 0.75 mm, papillate; anthers ca. 0.75 mm, thecae shortly 2-awned. Ovary tomentose. Calyx at fruiting white, rugose; capsule globose, 4–5 mm in diam. Fl. Aug–Oct, fr. Oct–Mar.

Salix scrub forests, margins of evergreen forests, slopes, flood plains; 600–2100 m. SE Xizang (Mêdog).