Rhamnus ninglangensis Y. L. Chen

Shrubs erect, to 1 m tall, unarmed. Young branches densely brownish puberulent; old branches slightly glabrescent. Petiole 8-10 mm, puberulent; leaf blade abaxially yellow, adaxially yellow-green when dry, broadly elliptic to ovate-orbicular, 2-4.5 × 1.5-3 cm, leathery or nearly leathery, both surfaces yellow velutinous-puberulent, lateral veins 5 or 6(-8) pairs, inconspicuously prominent on both surfaces, base rounded, margin entire, apex obtuse or rounded, slightly emarginate. Flowers bisexual, 2- or 3-clustered in leaf axils. Pedicels slender, slightly puberulent. Calyx tube puberulent; lobes 4 or 5, triangular, ca. 1.5 mm, puberulent. Petals absent. Stamens shorter than sepals. Ovary 4-loculed. Drupe black at maturity, obovoid-globose, ca. 4 mm in diam., with 3 or 4 stones, with persistent calyx tube at base; fruiting pedicel 6-8 mm, sparsely puberulent. Fl. unknown, fr. Jul-Aug.

SW Sichuan (Muli), NW Yunnan.

● Stony slopes, steep alpine slopes; below 3000 m.

Replaced synonym: Rhamnus velutina J. Anthony, Notes Roy. Bot. Gard. Edinburgh 15: 244. 1927 ["velutinus"], not Rhamnus velutina Boissier, Elench. Pl. Nov. 29. 1838 ["velutinus"].