Myrsine semiserrata Wall.

A rare tree in our area; the wood is of chocolate colour, and is used by carpenters; fruit is edible.

Shrubs or trees 3-7 m tall. Branchlets slightly angular, 1.5-2 mm in diam., glabrous. Petiole marginate, 6-8 mm, decurrent at base; leaf blade elliptic to lanceolate, sometimes rhomboid, 5-9(-14) × 2-2.5(-4) cm, papery to subleathery, slightly asymmetric, glossy, glabrous, base cuneate, margin remotely serrulate to middle, teeth callose, apex acute to acuminate; lateral veins slightly raised, sparsely punctate, marginal vein evident. Inflorescences axillary, umbellate or fascicled, sessile; bracts ovate, ciliate, punctate. Flowers white to yellowish, ca. 2 mm, 4-merous. Pedicel ca. 2 mm, glabrous or puberulent, subtended by 1 bract. Calyx cupular; lobes ovate, keeled, sparsely puberulent outside, margin entire, ciliate, punctate, apex acuminate. Petals free or united to 1/3 length, long elliptic, oblong, or ligulate, glabrous, prominently punctate to middle, margin entire, ciliate, apex obtuse. Pistil puberulent. Stigma 2-cleft, fimbriate. Fruit red becoming purple-black, globose, 5-7 mm in diam., densely punctate. Fl. Feb-Apr, fr. Oct-Dec.

A small tree or large shrub, up to 5 m tall, branches glabrous. Leaves lanceolate or elliptic, 5-12 cm long, 1-1.5(-2) cm broad, shortly serrate to subentire, usually glabrous; petiole 2.5-7.5 mm long. Flowers 3 mm across, white, in dense axillary fascicles; pedicels 1-2.5 mm long. Calyx and corolla 4-5-lobed, longer than these in the previous species. Stigmas 2-3-lobed, with flat, spreading, fimbriate lobes. Drupe c. 5 mm in diameter, gobose, tipped by style base, bright reddish-purple, fleshy.

Himalaya (Pakistan to NEFA), Assam, Tibet, N. Burma, W. & C. China.

Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hubei, Hunan, Sichuan, Xizang, Yunnan [India, Myanmar, Nepal]

Distribution: Outer or sub-Himalayan tracts, India, Pakistan, Nepal & Burma.

1200-2700 m

Fl. Per.: March-April.

Broad-leaved forests, limestone hillsides, mountain slopes, roadsides, streambanks, sunny places; 500-2700 m.

Celastrus cavaleriei H. Léveillé; C. seguinii H. Léveillé; Myrsine semiserrata var. brachypoda Z. Y. Zhu.