海南巴豆 hai nan ba dou

Shrubs 1-5 m tall; young branches densely stellate-pubescent, glabrescent. Leaves clustered at stem apex; petiole 5-20 mm, stellate-pubescent to glabrous; leaf blade obovate or oblong-obovate to oblanceolate, rarely elliptic, 4-14 × 1.5-5 cm, papery, stellate-tomentose when young, glabrescent, yellow-brown when dry, base obtuse to slightly cordate, margin subentire or irregularly serrulate, apex obtuse to acute, base of midrib (or lateral veins) with abaxial sessile cupular glands. Inflorescence terminal, 2-13 cm, densely stellate-tomentose. Male flowers: sepals elliptic, ca. 2 mm; petals oblong, nearly as long as sepals, woolly; stamens 10; filaments woolly. Female flowers: sepals ca. 3 mm; ovary subglobose, densely stellate-tomentose; styles bifid to base. Capsules subglobose, ca. 9 mm in diam., sparsely stellate-pubescent. Seeds ellipsoidal, slightly flattened. Fl. Jan-May, fr. Apr-Aug.

● Open forests; 100-300 m. Hainan.