Vasilis Teodoridis:
Saprosma merrillii H. S. Lo in Bot. Journ. South. China 2: 15; fig. 5(1--5). 1993.
????? qiong dao ran mu shu
Lasianthus hainanensis Merrill in Philipp. Journ. Sci. 21: 355. 1922; non Saprosma hainanense Merrill (1930).
Shrubs; 2--3 m tall; glabrous except pubescent on petioles and young stipules; branchlets terete; smooth; ca. 3 mm in diameter. Leaves papery; oblong; 10--17 x 3.5--6 cm; apex shortly acuminate; base cuneate; lateral veins 14--15 pairs; conspicuous; straight; branching and joining 3--4 mm from margin; forming a distinct intramarginal vein; petioles 10--12 mm long; stipules oblong; 2.5 mm long; acuminate. Flowers sessile; 3--5 fascicled in axils; calyx tube 1.6--1.7 mm long; pilose (/pubescent?); lobes 4; broadly triangular; 4--5 mm in diameter; corolla white; tubular funnelform; 5.5--6 mm long; glabrous outside; villose in throat and on lobes inside; lobes 4; ovate; ca. 1.5 mm long; apex incurved; beaked; stamens 4; inserted in throat; filaments almost wanting; anthers oblong ovate; nearly included; ovary 2-celled; ovule 1 per cell; style nearly as long as corolla tube; stigma biparted; lobes capitate. Fruit a drupe; bluish black; with 2 pyrenes; axillary; few; obovate to oblong obovate; ca. 7--8(--12?) mm long.
Sparse forests or forest margins. Hainan.