Cleyera pachyphylla Chun ex H. T. Chang

Shrubs or trees, 3-8(-12) m tall. Young branches grayish brown; current year branchlets reddish brown or yellowish brown, glabrous; terminal buds long conic, 1.5-2.5 cm, glabrous. Petiole 0.8-1.5 cm, glabrous; leaf blade oblong, 8-14 × 3.5-6 cm, thickly leathery, abaxially pale green and densely reddish punctate, adaxially dark green, both surfaces glabrous, midvein abaxially elevated and adaxially slightly impressed, secondary veins 20-28 on each side of midvein and adaxially visible or slightly raised, base broadly cuneate to subrounded, margin sparsely serrulate and slightly revolute, apex abruptly acute and with an obtuse tip. Flowers axillary, solitary or to 3 in a cluster. Pedicel 0.8-1.5 cm, glabrous; bracteoles caducous, broadly ovate, ca. 2 mm. Sepals ovate-oblong to oblong, 4-8 × 2.5-5 mm, thick, margin ciliolate, apex rounded and mucronate. Petals white, elliptic-oblong to elliptic-obovate, 10-12 × ca. 6 mm. Stamens 25-27, ca. 8 mm; anthers oblong, ca. 2 mm, with filiform trichomes, connective exserted. Ovary globose, glabrous, 2- or 3-loculed with 5-7 ovules per locule; style ca. 9 mm, apically 2- or 3-lobed. Fruit dark brown, globose, 8-10 mm in diam. Seeds blackish brown, compressed globose, ca. 2 mm in diam. Fl. Jun-Jul, fr. Oct-Nov.

Fujian, W Guangdong, Guangxi, S Hunan, Jiangxi, S Zhejiang.

● Forests on mountain slopes or tops; 300-1800 m.

Cleyera pachyphylla var. epunctata Hung T. Chang.