Neillia thibetica Bur. & Franch.

Shrubs to 3 m tall. Branchlets densely yellow-brown pubescent when young, purple-brown when old; buds purple-brown, ovoid, with 3 or 4 scales pubescent at margin, apex acute. Stipules lanceolate or ovate-lanceolate, 4–8 mm, herbaceous, pubescent on both surfaces, margin serrate or repand-serrate, ciliate, apex acute; petiole 8–10 mm, densely pubescent; leaf blade ovate to long elliptic, rarely triangular-ovate, 5–10 × 3–6 cm, abaxially pubescent, adaxially sparsely pubescent, base rounded or cordate, margin sharply doubly serrate, often irregularly 3–5-lobed or distinctly lobed ca. 1/2 way to midvein, apex acuminate. Racemes 5–15 cm, 3–5-flowered; peduncle and pedicels densely pubescent. Flowers ca. 4 mm in diam.; pedicel 3–4 mm. Hypanthium cylindric, 5–6 mm, densely pubescent on both surfaces. Sepals triangular, 2–3 mm, shorter than hypanthium, densely pubescent on both surfaces, margin entire, apex caudate. Petals pinkish white, obovate, ca. 3 mm. Stamens 15–20. Ovary cylindric, pubescent only at apex; ovules 5–8. Follicles cylindric. Seeds ovoid. Fl. May–Jun, fr. Jul–Sep.

W Sichuan, NW Yunnan.

Stream sides in mixed forests; 1500--3000 m.

Flowering from May to June; fruiting from July to September.

Neillia thibetica var. thibetica is close relative of Neillia thibetica var. lobata, but differs from the latter in its leaf blade margin irregularly 3-5-lobed (vs. distinctly lobed ca. 1/2 way to midvein), stipules lanceolate, margin serrate and ciliate (vs. ovate-lanceolate, margin repand-serrate and ciliate).

Neillia thibetica is occurring in W Sichuan, NW Yunnan of China.

Phylogeny of the tribe Neillieae (Rosaceae), which comprises Neillia, Stephanandra, and Physocarpus, was reconstructed based on nucleotide sequences of several regions of cpDNA, the ITS and ETS regions of rDNA, and the second intron of LEAFY (Oh and Potter, 2005). Phylogenetic analyses indicated that Neillia sinensis and N. thibetica together form a clade with strong support in separate analyses of the cpDNA and LEAFY data and the combined analyses. Neillia sinensis, widely distributed in China, is morphologically very similar to N. thibetica; both species have racemes of pink flowers with long cylindrical hypanthia (Cullen, 1971; Yu and Ku, 1974).

Shrubs to 3 m tall. Branchlets densely yellow-brown pubescent when young, purple-brown when old; buds purple-brown, ovoid, with 3 or 4 scales pubescent at margin, apex acute. Stipules lanceolate, 4-8 mm, herbaceous, pubescent on both surfaces, margin serrate, ciliate, apex acute; petiole 8-10 mm, densely pubescent; leaf blade ovate to long elliptic, rarely triangular-ovate, 5-10 cm long, 3-6 cm wide, abaxially pubescent, adaxially sparsely pubescent, base rounded or cordate, margin sharply doubly serrate, often irregularly 3-5-lobed, apex acuminate. Racemes 5-15 cm, 3-15-flowered; peduncle and pedicels densely pubescent. Flowers ca. 4 mm in diameter; pedicel 3-4 mm. Hypanthium cylindric, 5-6 mm, densely pubescent on both surfaces. Sepals triangular, 2-3 mm, shorter than hypanthium, densely pubescent on both surfaces, margin entire, apex caudate. Petals pinkish white, obovate, ca. 3 mm. Stamens 15-20. Ovary cylindric, pubescent only at apex; ovules 5-8. Follicles cylindric. Seeds ovoid.

Growing in stream sides in mixed forests; 1500-3000 m.