Vasilis Teodoridis:
Rhamnaceae | Sageretia
14. Sageretia hamosa (Wallich) Brongniart; Mém. Fam. Rhamnées. 53. 1826.
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Shrubs evergreen; scandent; armed. Branchlets grayish brown or dark brown; with incurved; hooklike stout spines; glabrous or puberulent at base only; sometimes yellow-brown pubescent. Leaves alternate or subopposite; petiole 8-15(-17) mm; glabrous; sometimes yellow-brown pubescent; leaf blade adaxially shiny; oblong or narrowly elliptic; rarely ovate-elliptic; 9-15(-20) x 4-6(-7) cm; leathery; abaxially barbate at vein axils or sparsely pubescent; glabrescent; adaxially glabrous; lateral veins 7-10 pairs; prominent abaxially; impressed adaxially; base rounded or subrounded; margin serrulate; apex caudate-acuminate; acuminate; or shortly acuminate. Flowers sessile; glabrous; usually 2- or 3-fascicled in lax terminal or axillary spicate panicles; rachis ca. 15 cm; brown or canescent tomentose or densely puberulent; bracts ovate; small; sparsely puberulent. Ovary 2-loculed; with 1 ovule per locule; style short; stigma capitate. Drupe subsessile; deep red or purple-black at maturity; subglobose; 7-10 x 5-7 mm; with 2 pyrenes; often white powdery. Seeds brown; flat; ca. 6 mm; emarginate at both ends; asymmetrical. Fl. Jul-Aug; fr. Aug-Oct.
Forests or thickets on slopes; dense forests along canals; below 1600 m. Fujian; Guangdong; Guangxi; Guizhou; Hubei; Hunan; Jiangxi; Sichuan; SE Xizang; S Yunnan; Zhejiang [India; Nepal; Philippines; Sri Lanka; Vietnam].
Because this species is quite similar to Sageretia lucida; previous authors have misidentified it as the latter; however; the latter differs in having smaller leaves; with lateral veins 5 or 6 pairs; adaxially not impressed; and rachis glabrous.