• Scientific Name: Gymnosporia diversifolia Maxim.
• Ref: Bull. Acad. Imp. Sci. Saint-Pétersbourg, sér. 3, 27:459. 1881
• Synonyms: Celastrus diversifolius (Maxim.) Hemsl.; Gymnosporia crassifolia Pit.; G. mekongensis Pierre; G. obovata Craib; G. tonkinensis Pit.; Maytenus diversifolia (Maxim.) Ding Hou
• Chinese Common Name: 变叶裸实 biànyè luǒshí, 变叶美登木 biànyè měidēng∙mù
• Japanese Common Name: ハリツルマサキ [針蔓柾木] haritsurumasaki
• Family: Celastraceae
• Genus: Gymnosporia
• Distribution: Sparse forests, mountain slopes, seashores, roadsides; below 100 m. Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan, Taiwan [Japan (including Ryukyu Islands), Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam].
• Photo: 09/13/2014, Is. Nanji, Zhejiang

Shrubs or small trees, 1-3 m tall. Twigs spiny, pallid brown, densely covered with rust-colored punctiform short bristles, glabrescent with age. Petiole 1-3 mm; leaf blade obovate, broadly obovate, or obovate-lanceolate, 1-4.5 × 1-1.8 cm, papery, or leathery with age, base cuneate, margin crenate, apex rounded or emarginate. Cymes axillary, dichotomous; peduncle 0.4-1 cm; bracts and bracteoles shorter than ca. 1 mm. Flowers white or light yellow, 3-5 mm in diam.; sepals triangular-ovate. Ovary confluent with disk; styles absent. Capsule subobovoid, red or purple, 5-7 mm at greatest width, 4-loculed, 2-valved. Seeds ellipsoid, 3-4 mm in diam., black-brown, basally covered by aril. Fl. Jun-Sep, fr. Aug-Dec. (Flora of China)

09/13/2014, Is. Nanji, Zhejiang