置疑小檗 zhi yi xiao bo

Shrubs, deciduous, 1-3 m tall. Branches grayish black, slightly sulcate, sparsely black verruculose; shoots purplish red, shiny, conspicuously sulcate; spines simple or 3-fid, concolorous, 0.7-2 cm. Petiole 1-3 mm; leaf blade abaxially pale yellow, adaxially deep green, narrowly obovate, 1.5-3 × 0.5-1.8 cm, papery, both surfaces glabrous, not pruinose, abaxially with conspicuously raised midvein and lateral veins, adaxially with obviously raised midvein and lateral veins, both surfaces with markedly raised reticulate veins, base attenuate, margin 6-14-spinulose-serrulate on each side, apex subacuminate. Inflorescence a raceme, 5-10-flowered, 1-3 cm; peduncle 5-10 mm. Pedicels weak, 3-6 mm, glabrous; bractlets lanceolate, 1.5 × 1 mm, apex acute. Sepals in 2 whorls; outer sepals ovate, ca. 2.5 × 1.5 mm; inner sepals broadly obovate, ca. 4.5 × 3.5 mm. Petals elliptic, ca. 3.5 × 2.5 mm, base cuneate, with separate glands, apex shortly emarginate. Stamens ca. 2.5 mm; anther connective prolonged, shortly apiculate. Ovules 2. Berry red, obovoid-ellipsoid, ca. 8 × 4 mm, not pruinose, style not persistent. Fl. May-Jun, Aug-Sep.

● Thickets, forests, stony slopes, river beaches; 1400-3900 m. Gansu, Nei Mongol, Ningxia, Qinghai.