红木巴戟 hong mu ba ji

Erect shrubs, ca. 2.5 m tall; branches glabrous, quadrangular, purplish black. Leaves opposite or solitary opposite an inflorescence; petiole 2-4 cm; blade matte on both surfaces, adaxially purplish black or purplish red, abaxially dark brown, elliptic-oblong, elliptic, or oblong-oblanceolate, 13-22 × 5-11 cm, adaxially glabrous, abaxially scabrous, base acute to attenuate, margin sometimes weakly sinuate, apex acuminate or mucronulate; secondary veins 10-14 pairs; stipules interpetiolar, triangular, ovate, or ovate-lanceolate, acute, acuminate, or bifid. Inflorescence leaf-opposed; peduncle 1(or 2), 1-2 cm, glabrous; heads 1 per peduncle, globose, many flowered; bracteoles 3-5, subulate. Flowers fused at base, biology not noted. Calyx limb truncate. Corolla pink, salverform, outside glabrous; tube ca. 22 mm, somewhat curved, glabrous inside; lobes 4 or 5, lanceolate, ca. 4 mm. Young drupecetum globose, ca. 1 cm in diam. Young drupes dark red. Fl. summer, fr. autumn.

● Sparse forests on hill slopes; 500-800 m. S Yunnan.

The protologue gave the number of corolla lobes as 5, but the protologue figure shows 4 corolla lobes.