小紫金牛Ardisia chinensis

  • Scientific Name: Ardisia chinensis Bentham
  • Ref: Fl. Hongk. 207. 1861.
  • Synonyms: Ardisia jiajiangensis Z. Y. Zhu;
    A. triflora Hemsley;
    Bladhia chinensis (Bentham) Nakai;
    B. chinensis var. minor Nakai;
    Tinus chinensis (Bentham) Kuntze;
    T. triflora (Hemsley) Kuntze.
  • Chinese Common Name: 小紫金牛 xiao zi jin niu
  • Family: Primulaceae, Myrsinaceae
  • Genus: Ardisia
  • Distribution: Mixed forests, hillsides, valleys, along streams, dark damp places; 300-800 m. Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Hunan, Jiangxi, Sichuan, Taiwan, Zhejiang [Japan, Malaysia, Vietnam]
  • Photo: 06/15/2020, Hangzhou Botanical Garden, Zhejiang
 Shrubs or subshrubs with creeping rhizomes. Stems to 45 cm, minutely blackish brown scaly when young, glabrescent. Petiole 3-8(-10) mm, brown scaly; leaf blade obovate or elliptic, 3-8 × 1.5-3 cm, papery, glabrous adaxially, ± brown scaly abaxially, base cuneate, margin undulate or repand to subentire, slightly revolute, apex obtuse to acute; lateral veins numerous, marginal vein present. Inflorescences axillary, simple, subumbellate, 3-10-flowered; peduncle 1-3 cm. Flowers white or sometimes pinkish, ca. 3 mm. Pedicel 5-8 mm, slender, blackish brown scaly. Sepals triangular-ovate, ca. 1 mm, brown scaly, punctate or not, margin ciliate, apex acute. Petals free or nearly so, ovate, glabrous, not punctate, apex acute or acuminate. Stamens ca. 2/3 as long as petals; anthers ovate, punctate or not dorsally, apex acute, apiculate. Ovary glabrous, ovules 5 or 6, uniseriate. Fruit red becoming blackish, globose, ca. 5 mm in diam., not punctate, glabrous. Fl. Apr-Jun, fr. Oct-Dec.(Flora of China)

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