Stauntonia obovata Hemsl.

Monoecious. Stems and branches slender, striate. Petiole slender, 2--6(--8) cm; leaf blade palmately 3--5(or 6)-foliolate; petiolules 0.8--2(--3) cm; leaflets variable in shape and size, usually obovate, sometimes oblong, broadly elliptic, or oblanceolate, lateral leaflets sometimes slightly asymmetric, 3.5--6(--11) × 1.5--3(--6) cm, subleathery, abaxially farinaceous whitish green, adaxially dark green and shiny, base cuneate to broadly cuneate, margin slightly revolute, apex rounded, sometimes acute to acuminate; primary veins 3; secondary veins 4--7 pairs; tertiary veinlets and secondary veins inconspicuous on both surfaces or abaxially prominent and adaxially slightly impressed. Racemes 2 or 3, 4--5 cm, few flowered; bracts persistent; peduncle and pedicel slender. Flowers whitish yellow; bracteoles small, deciduous. Outer 3 sepals ovate-lanceolate, 9--10 × 3.5--4 mm, margin slightly revolute, apex acuminate; inner 3 sepals linear-lanceolate, less than 1 mm wide. Petals absent. Male flowers: stamens 3.5--4 mm. Filaments ca. 2 mm, connate into a tube; anthers free; connective apical appendage apiculate, minute. Pistillodes very small, concealed within filament tube. Female flowers: staminodes 6, scalelike, less than 0.5 mm. Carpels 3. Stigma small, capitate. Fruit brownish black when dry, ellipsoid to ovoid, 4--5 cm, densely tuberculate. Seeds ovoid-reniform to subtriangular, slightly compressed, 8--10 × 5--6 mm; seed coat brownish black, shiny. Fl. Feb--Apr, fr. Sep--Nov.

Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Hunan, Jiangxi, Sichuan, Taiwan.

* Open to dense forest on mountain slopes, along valleys; 300--800 m.

Akebia cavaleriei Léveillé; Holboellia obovata (Hemsley) Chun; Stauntonia formosana Hayata; S. hebandra Hayata; S. hebandra var. angustata Y. C. Wu; S. keitaoensis Hayata; S. obovata var. angustata (Y. C. Wu) H. L. Li.