Small shrub, ½ rn, to treelet to 4(-10) m high. Twigs appressedly brown-pubescent, often distinctly zigzag. Leaves alternate, olive-yellow beneath and dark brown to green above when dry, glabrous above, nearly glabrous to appressedly fine-pilose beneath, faintly acuminate with rounded to cuneate base and sharply glandular dentate margin, ovate to elliptic, 2½-5½ by l-2½ cm; nerves 5-8 pairs; petiole 1-2 mm. Flowers solitary and pedicels to 12 mm, or flowers up to 3 or 4 together in a raceme and then with very short pedicel, except sometimes the uppermost flower; axis, pedicels, the c. 4 mm long bracts and the 2-3 mm long bracteoles appressedly brown-pubescent. Calyx less hairy than ovary, c. 2 mm long, the lobes 1-1½ mm. Corolla 4-6 mm. Stamens 40 to more than 100. Disk glabrous or with some minute hairs. Ovary appressedly pubescent, 1-1½ mm high; style glabrous or with some hairs, gradually thickened towards its base, 4-5 mm. Fruit purple to blackish when ripe, ellipsoid to ovoid, sometimes a little curved, 10-12 by 5-6 mm. Seed 1, straight with straight embryo.
Subalpine shrub forest and open places, between granite rocks and on ridges, 2400-3700 m. Fl. Jan.-May, Oct., fr. Jan., March, July.
Home