Illicium brevistylum A.C.Sm.

Shrubs or trees, to 15 m tall. Perules lanceolate, largest 5-8 mm. Leaves in clusters of 3-5 at distal nodes; petiole 0.6-2 cm; leaf blade narrowly oblong-elliptic to oblanceolate, 5-8(-14) × 1.5-4.5 cm, thinly leathery, midvein adaxially impressed, secondary veins 5-8 on each side of midvein and inconspicuous, base attenuate and decurrent along petiole, apex acute to shortly caudate. Flowers axillary or subterminal. Flower peduncle 0.8-1.6 cm. Tepals 9-11, pale red, suborbicular (largest), 6-11 × 6-11 mm (largest), papery (outer) to fleshy (inner). Stamens 14-20, 1.9-3.4 mm; filaments 0.9-1.9 mm; connectives truncate; anthers 0.8-1.6 mm; pollen grains trisyncolpate. Carpels 12 or 13, 2.3-3.4 mm; ovary 1.5-2.2 mm; style 0.8-1.2 mm. Fruit peduncle 1.6-3.5 cm. Fruit with 11-13 follicles; follicles 13-17 × 6-10 × 3-4 mm. Seeds 6-7 × 4.5-5 × 2.5-3 mm. Fl. Apr-May and Oct, fr. Oct-Nov and Apr-May.

It is a tropical plant. It grows in forests and thickets in southern China between 700-1,700 m above sea level. In Yunnan.