Low Shoebutton

Shrubs 1-2(-5) m tall, glabrous. Branchlets terete, 5-7 mm in diam., glabrous. Petiole canaliculate, 6-10 mm; leaf blade obovate, elliptic, or rarely oblanceolate, 15-18 × 5-7 cm, leathery, glabrous, inconspicuously pellucid punctate, scrobiculate, base cuneate and minutely decurrent, margin entire, apex broadly acute to obtuse; lateral veins ca. 12 on each side of midrib, marginal vein absent. Inflorescences terminal, rarely terminating lateral branchlets, subumbellate or cymose in pyramidal panicles, 8-17(-20) cm. Flowers leathery, pink or purplish red, 5-6 mm. Pedicel 6-10 mm, ca. 1.5 cm in fruit. Sepals broadly ovate, 1-2 mm, glabrous, punctate, base subauriculate, margin entire, apex acute. Petals nearly free, broadly ovate or ovate, glabrous, inconspicuously pellucid or orange punctate, glabrous. Stamens subequalling petals; filaments ca. 1/2 anther length; anthers oblong-lanceolate, punctate dorsally, apiculate. Pistil equaling petals; ovary punctate, glabrous; ovules numerous, in 3 series. Fruit dull red or purplish black, globose, ca. 6 mm in diam., densely punctate. Fl. Mar-Apr, fr. Nov-Dec.

Guangdong, Hainan [Philippines, Vietnam]

Mixed forests, hillsides, open fields; 0-1100 m.

Ardisia hainanensis Mez; A. pyrgina Saint Lager; A. pyrgus Roemer & Schultes; Tinus humilis (Vahl) Kuntze.

Ardisia humilis (jet berry) is a species of flowering plant in the genus Ardisia in the family Primulaceae, native to southeastern Asia in southern China (Guangdong, Hainan), the Philippines, and Vietnam.