Mercurialis leiocarpa Siebold & Zucc.

Perennial herbs, 0.3-1 m tall, monoecious. Stem simple, glabrous. Stipules ca. 2.5 mm, reflexed; petiole 1.5-4.5 cm; leaf blade oblong-ovate or ovate-lanceolate, 3-13 × 2-5.5 cm, membranous, adaxially pilose, base obtuse or cuneate, margin crenate, apex acuminate. Male inflorescences unbranched, 5-12 cm, glabrous; bracts ovate, ca. 1.5 mm, widely spaced. Male flowers 5-11 per bract; pedicel ca. 0.5 mm; calyx lobes 3, ovate, ca. 2 mm; stamens 12-20; filaments ca. 2 mm. Female inflorescences unbranched, 3-9 cm. Female flowers 3-5 per bract, often together with a few male flowers; pedicel 1-2 mm; sepals 3, ovate, ca. 2 mm; disk glands 2, subulate, ca. 2 mm; ovary subglobose, abaxially 2-4-muricate or sparsely setulose; style 2, ca. 1 mm. Capsule 5-6 mm in diam., lobes abaxially 2-4-muricate or verruculose. Seeds globose, ca. 2.5 mm in diam., foveolate. Fl. Dec-Apr, fr. Apr-Jul.

Himalaya (Nepal to Bhutan), Assam, China, Korea, Taiwan, Japan.

Anhui, N Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi, Sichuan, Taiwan, Yunnan, Zhejiang [Bhutan, NE India, Japan, Korea, Nepal, N Thailand].

2600 m

Mountain slopes or valleys, forests; 300-2800 m.

Mercurialis leiocarpa var. transmorrisonensis (Hayata) H. Keng; M. leiocarpa var. trichocarpa W. T. Wang; M. transmorrisonensis Hayata.