Phyllodes placentaria Loureiro, Fl. Cochinch. 1: 13. 1790; Phrynium parviflorum Roxburgh; P. sinicum Miquel.

Plants 1--2 m tall. Basal leaf 1(or 2); leaf sheath 3--50 cm. Cauline leaf 1; leaf sheath 3--5 cm; petiole 7.5--60 cm, pulvinus 2--7 cm; leaf blade ovate to elliptic, 25--55 × (5.5--)8--20 cm, thinly leathery, glabrous, base rounded with an acute center, apex acuminate. Inflorescence sessile, composed of 4 or 5 or more spikelets, globose, 3--8 cm in diam.; bracts crowded, oblong, 2--2.5 cm, apex with a spinescent acumen. Flowers 2 per bract, white to yellowish white. Sepals linear, ca. 5 mm. Corolla tube ca. 8 mm; lobes elliptic, ca. 5 × 2 mm. Outer staminodes obovate, ca. 5 mm. Ovary glabrous or apically puberulent. Fruit oblong, ca. 1.2 cm; exocarp thin. Seed 1, ellipsoid, ca. 1 cm; aril red. Fl. (Feb--)May--Aug, fr. Aug--Nov.

Wet shaded places in forests, often in valleys along streams; near sea level to 1500 m. Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hainan, SE Xizang (Mêdog Xian), S Yunnan [Bhutan, India, Indonesia, Myanmar, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam].