Flueggea leucopyrus Willd.

Shrubs 1.5-4 m tall, erect; branches terete or obtusely angular when young, gray, prominently lenticellate; ultimate branchlets spine-tipped, terete, rigid. Stipules triangular, 0.5-1 mm; petiole 2-8 mm, grooved adaxially; leaf blade elliptic, obovate, or rotund, 13-25 × 10-15 mm, papery to thinly leathery, base cuneate to obtuse, margin entire, apex rounded; lateral veins 5-7 pairs. Inflorescences axillary, appearing with expanding leaves or at leafless nodes, cymose. Male flowers: pedicels 2-5 mm; sepals 5, ovate or rotund, 0.6-1.2 × 0.6-1.2 mm, margins entire or denticulate; disk segments 5, angular; stamens 5; filaments 0.8-1.8 mm; anthers 0.3-0.5 mm; rudimentary ovary 0.6-1.2 mm high, 2- or 3-lobed, lobes erect or recurved. Female flowers: pedicels 1.2-2.8 mm; sepals 5, elliptic or ovate, 0.6-0.8 mm; disk annular, subentire at apex; ovary ovoid, 2- or 3-locular; styles 0.6-0.9 mm, connate at base, bifid at apex. Berry subglobose, ca. 4 mm in diam., whitish when ripe. Seeds brownish, 1.9-2.5 mm, smooth; hilum invaginated. Fl. Apr-Jul, fr. Jul-Oct.

Sichuan (Dêrong), Yunnan (Dêqên, Mojiang, Zhongdian) [India, Sri Lanka; Africa, Arabia].

Scrub on slopes; 1000-1400 m.

Acidoton leucopyrus (Willdenow) Kuntze; Cicca leucopyrus (Willendow) Kurz; Flueggea wallichiana Baillon; F. xerocarpa A. Jussieu; Phyllanthus leucopyrus (Willdenow) J. Koenig ex Roxburgh; Securinega leucopyrus (Willdenow) Müller Argoviensis.