Maesa membranacea A. DC., Ann. Sci. Nat., Bot., s¨¦r. 2, 16: 80 (1841)

Synonyms
Maesa subrotunda CY Wu & C Chen

Diagnostics
Small shrub. Leaves alternate and slightly toothed. Inflorescences small, glabrous, with small white flowers. Fruits globose, small (3 mm diameter), orange punctate-lineate.

Description
Shrubs 2-5 m tall, glandular granulose, early glabrescent. Branchlets terete, flexuous, not lenticellate; pith solid. Petiole subterete or barely canaliculate, 2.5-3(-4) cm; leaf blade broadly ovate or broadly elliptic, 10-17(-24) x 5-11.5 cm, thin leathery, adaxially glossy, finely orange punctate-lineate, base broadly obtuse, rounded, to truncate, margin serrate- denticulate or with small, punctate teeth, apex caudate-acuminate; lateral veins 6-9(or 10) on each side of midrib, ending in teeth, submarginal vein absent. Inflorescences axillary and terminal, paniculate, (2-)7 cm, 4- or 5-branched, glabrous; bracteoles ovate, acute. Flowers white, ca. 2 mm. Pedicel 0.8-1.5(-2) mm. Calyx lobes broadly ovate, ca. 1 mm in fruit, obtuse or rounded, entire or irregularly crenulate, minutely ciliate or not, orange punctate-lineate. Corolla lobes as long as tube, broadly ovate, rounded at apex, crenulate at margin, orange punctate-lineate. Stamens included, minute, inserted on lower part of corolla tube; filaments shorter than anthers. Pistil included. Style thick; stigma obscurely lobed. Fruit globose, ca. 3 mm in diam., orange punctate-lineate. [from Flora of China]

Ecology
Dense mixed forests, hillsides, stream banks, open coastal areas, damp places; 200-1500 m.

Uses

Distribution
Southern China and Hainan into Indochina.

Local names
China: Xian ye du jing shan.