Rhamnus tangutica J. Vass.

The fruit is used for making dye.

This species is quite similar to Rhamnus virgata, but the latter dif-fers in having young branches hairy and leaves thin, concolorous on both surfaces, turning red when dry, with conspicuous reticulate veins.

Shrubs, rarely trees, dioecious, 2-6 m tall, spinose. Branchlets opposite or subopposite; young branches green, glabrous or subglabrous; older branches red-brown or black-brown, smooth, shiny, terminating in a spine. Leaves opposite or subopposite, or fascicled on short shoots; stipules linear, often persistent; petiole to 1.3 cm; leaf blade abaxially pale green, turning yellow when dry, adaxially dark green, elliptic, obovate-elliptic, or obovate, 2.5-6 × 1-3.5 cm, papery or thickly papery, abaxially sparsely puberulent on veins and vein axils, adaxially sparsely shortly hairy or subglabrous, lateral veins 4 or 5 pairs, base cuneate, margin obtuse or crenulate, apex shortly acuminate or acute, rarely subrounded. Flowers unisexual, 4-merous. Pedicels 4-6 mm, glabrous or subglabrous. Petals present. Male flowers few to 10. Female flowers 3-9-fascicled on short shoots; style 2-fid. Drupe black at maturity, obovoid-globose, 4-6 mm in diam., with persistent calyx tube at base, with 2 stones; fruiting pedicel 6-8 mm, glabrous. Seeds red-brown, abaxially-laterally with margined furrow extending over 3/4-4/5 of length. Fl. May-Jun, fr. Jun-Sep.

S Gansu, W Henan, Qinghai, C Shaanxi, W Sichuan, E Xizang.

● Forests and thickets in valleys; 1200-3700 m.

Rhamnus leptophylla C. K. Schneider var. scabrella Rehder; R. potaninii J. J. Vassiljev; R. virgata Roxburgh var. parvifolia Maximowicz.

Rhamnus tangutica là một loài thực vật có hoa trong họ Táo. Loài này được J.J. Vassil. miêu tả khoa học đầu tiên năm 1940.

甘青鼠李（学名：Rhamnus tangutica）为鼠李科鼠李属下的一个种。