河口龙船花 he kou long chuan hua

Replaced synonym: Ixora gracilis W. C. Ko, Guihaia 19: 103. 1999, not Ixora gracilis R. Brown ex Fawcett in H. O. Forbes, Nat. Wand. E. Archip. 508. 1885, nor Ixora gracilis (A. Richard ex Candolle) Kuntze, Revis. Gen. Pl. 1: 286-287. 1891 [Pavetta gracilis A. Richard ex Candolle, Prodr. 4: 492. 1830].

Climbing shrubs. Stems glabrous. Leaves opposite; petiole 4-6 mm; blade drying papery and grayish brown, elliptic-oblong to obovate, 10-18 × 3-7 cm, base cuneate to obtuse, apex rather abruptly contracted and acute to acuminate; secondary veins 7-9 pairs; stipules persistent, ovate, 6-7 mm, with arista slightly longer than stipule. Inflorescences terminal, corymbose, 7-8 × 3.5-5 cm, several flowered, puberulent; peduncle 3-5 cm; bracts narrowly lanceolate, 3.5-5 mm; pedicels 2-3 mm. Flowers pedicellate. Calyx puberulent; hypanthium subglobose, ca. 2 mm; limb deeply lobed; lobes triangular, 1-1.2 mm. Corolla white; tube 18-20 mm, glabrous at throat; lobes narrowly elliptic-oblong, 5-6 mm, obtuse. Drupe unknown. Fl. Jun-Aug.

● Dense forests at riversides; ca. 200 m. Yunnan (Hekou).

The reported climbing habit of this species is highly unusual in Ixora; however, W. C. Ko did not use that character in the protologue to help distinguish this species.