灰叶南蛇藤 hui ye nan she teng

Celastrus glaucophyllus var. angustus Q. H. Chen.

Deciduous twining shrubs; branchlets with elliptic to oblong sparse lenticels. Petiole 8-12 mm; leaf blade broadly elliptic, obovate-elliptic, or rarely narrowly elliptic, 5-10 × 2.5-6.5 cm, leathery during fruiting period, adaxially green, abaxially gray-white, base orbicular or broadly cuneate, margin sparsely finely serrate, apex shortly acuminate; secondary veins 4 or 5 pairs, rarely 6. Racemose panicles axillary to terminal, 3-6 cm, axillary inflorescences only 3-5-flowered; rachis short, only 1-2 mm; pedicels 2.5-3.5 mm, jointed at or above middle. Sepals elliptic or ovate, 1.5-2 mm, margin sparsely erose-denticulate; petals obovate-rectangular to narrowly ovate, 4-5 × ca. 2.2 mm. Disk shallowly cupulate, slightly carnose, edge approximately semicircular. Stamens ± shorter than petals; anthers broadly elliptic to approximately orbicular. Pistillode 1.5-2 mm in male flowers. Fruit globose, 8-10 mm wide; stipes 5-9 mm. Fl. Mar-Jun, fr. Aug-Oct.

● Mixed forests; 700-3700 m. Guizhou, Hubei, Hunan, S Shaanxi, Sichuan, Yunnan.

The leaf blades are quite variable in this species.