Paliurus australis Gaertner var. orientalis Franchet, Pl. Delavay. 132. 1889; P. sinicus C. K. Schneider.

Shrubs to small trees, evergreen to 12 m tall. Young branches puberulent to pubescent; mature branches soon glabrescent. Stipular spines 2, erect, often restricted to vegetative
shoots; petiole 3-5(-8) mm, pubescent; leaf blade broadly elliptic, ovate, or ovate-elliptic, 4.5-10(-14) × 2.5-5(-7) cm, papery, abaxially glabrous to ± densely pubescent, adaxially glabrous, 3-veined from base, base slightly oblique, subrounded, or broadly cuneate, margin obtusely serrulate, apex acuminate, rarely rounded-obtuse. Flowers 4-6 mm in diam., glabrous, in axillary cymes; peduncles pubescent. Calyx tube disk-shaped; lobes triangular, ca. 1.8 × 1.6 mm. Petals elliptic-spatulate, ca. 1.5 × 0.8 mm. Stamens slightly shorter than petals. Disk pentagonous, 5-dentate. Ovary 2- or 3-loculed; style flattened or terete, 2-cleft. Drupe disk-shaped, 1.4-2(-2.6) cm in diam., glabrous; wing thin, 5-8 mm wide, papery, margin ± undulate; mesocarp thin; endocarp globose, 3-5 mm in diam. Seeds compressed, obovoid; testa brownish, shiny. Fl. Apr-Jun, fr. Jul-Oct.

● Mountain forests; 900-2000 m. SW Sichuan, Yunnan.