西藏瑞香 xi zang rui xiang

Shrubs 0.3-0.5(-1) m tall, branching dichotomous. Branches reddish brown, densely pubescent. Leaves alternate; petiole short; leaf blade glossy dark green adaxially, dull pale green abaxially, oblanceolate, 2.5-5.5 × 0.9-2.2 cm, leathery, abaxially at first sparsely hairy but both surfaces glabrous well before leaf is fully expanded, base cuneate, margin narrowly revolute, apex obture or retuse; lateral veins 6-8 per side of midrib. Inflorescences terminal, fasciculate, 2-5(-8)-flowered; peduncle absent; bracts very soon caducous, ovate-elliptic, ciliate. Pedicel 3-4 mm. Calyx exterior purple or dark maroon except for 2 white lobes, interior white; tube cylindric, 7-12 mm, exterior sericeous; lobes 4, ovate, 3-5 × 3-3.5 mm, apex acute. Stamens 8, lower whorl inserted above middle of calyx tube, upper whorl in throat; filaments almost absent; anthers 1.5-1.75 × 0.3-0.2 mm. Disk annular, very narrow, entire. Ovary pyriform, glabrous; style ca. 0.5 mm; stigma capitate, tiny. Drupe red, ovoid, 8-10 mm.

● Deep shade at base of cliffs; ca. 3500 m. Xizang.