Maesa tenera Mez

Shrubs 1-2(-4) m tall, glandular granulose, early glabrescent. Branchlets angular to obtusely ridged, lenticellate; pith hollow. Petiole canaliculate, 1-1.5 cm; leaf blade broadly elliptic to ovate, 7.5-11 × 3.5-5.5 cm, membranous, dull adaxially, inconspicuously pellucid punctate and sparsely glandular granulose abaxially, base cuneate, margin serrate, teeth not callose, apex caudate-acuminate; lateral veins 7-10 on each side of midrib, marginal vein absent. Inflorescences axillary, racemose or paniculate, 7-10 cm, glabrous; bracteoles ovate to lanceolate, margin ciliate, apex acute. Flowers 1.5-2 mm. Pedicel 1.5-2 mm, glabrous. Calyx lobes broadly ovate, margin entire, sometimes ciliate, apex acute. Corolla campanulate, twice as long as calyx lobes; lobes broadly ovate, as long as tube, orange punctate-lineate, margin crenulate, apex rounded. Stamens of pistillate flowers reduced, those of male flowers inserted on distal part of corolla tube; filaments longer than anthers; anthers oblong. Pistil and pistillode included. Style persistent; stigma 4-lobed. Fruit globose or subovoid, ca. 3 mm in diam., striate, 1/4-1/3 exposed above attachment of persistent calyx lobes. Fl. Feb, fr. Aug-Sep.

C and S Guangdong

* Open edges of mixed forests; 100-600 m.