Ardisia elliptica Thunb.

Shrubs 1-2 m tall, glabrous. Branchlets angular, 3-4.5 mm in diam., glabrous, conspicuously black punctate-lineate, longitudinally ridged. Petiole marginate, 5-10 mm; leaf blade oblanceolate or obovate, 6-12(-16) × 3-5(-7) cm, subleathery, dull and densely punctate abaxially, especially along margin, base cuneate, margin revolute, entire, apex obtuse or acute; lateral veins 12-34 on each side of midrib, marginal vein present. Inflorescences axillary or subterminal on basally thickened lateral branches, subumbellate or umbellate. Flowers leathery, pink or white, 6(-8) mm. Pedicel ca. 1-2 cm, minutely and densely white verruculose, densely punctate. Sepals broadly ovate, ca. 1 mm, densely black punctate, base rugose and subauriculate, margin subentire, scarious, minutely ciliate, apex rounded. Petals almost free, broadly ovate, densely punctate, glabrous, margin hyaline, scarious, entire, apex long attenuate. Stamens subequalling petals; anthers linear-lanceolate, punctate dorsally, longitudinally dehiscent, transversely septate-lobed, apex apiculate. Pistil as long as petals; ovary glabrous, pellucid punctate; ovules numerous, multiseriate. Fruit subglobose, red or purplish black, ca. 8 mm in diam., minutely punctate, fleshy. Fl. Feb-Apr, fr. Sep-Nov. 2n = 48*

Roadsides, scrub, near villages, edges of fields, along coasts. Taiwan [India, Indonesia, Japan (Ryukyu Islands), Malaysia, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Vietnam; cultivated and naturalized throughout tropics]

Ardisia kotoensis Hayata; A. squamulosa Presl; Bladhia kotoensis (Hayata) Nakai; Tinus squamulosa (Presl) Kuntze.