Lycianthes bitteriana

Description. Large woody herbs to shrubs ca. 2 m tall; stems terete, densely pubescent with uniseriate dendritic 5 - 10 - celled trichomes to 0.5 mm long, the branches short and congested (" tannenbaumartig "), drying yellowish tan; new growth densely pubescent with uniseriate dendritic trichomes like those of the stems, drying yellowish tan, not markedly glabrescent; bark of older stems dark brown, somewhat glabrescent. Sympodial units difoliate, the leaves geminate, the leaves of a pair differing only in size, not in shape. Leaves simple; blades of major leaves 9 - 14 cm long, 4 - 6 cm wide, elliptic to broadly elliptic, widest in the middle, discolorous, membranous to chartaceous; adaxial surfaces moderately and evenly pubescent with dendritic trichomes with congested branches like those of the stems, these denser along the veins; abaxial surfaces more densely pubescent with dendritic trichomes, but the lamina still visible; principal veins 8 - 9 pairs, yellowish tan abaxially; base acute to truncate, oblique; margins entire; apex acuminate; petioles 1.6 - 3 cm long, densely dendritic-pubescent; blades of minor leaves 2.5 - 5.5 cm long, 1.3 - 3 cm wide, similar in shape and pubescence to the major leaves; petioles 0.5 - 1 cm long. Inflorescences axillary, the flowers borne on a woody axis with 3 - 4 short branches to 0.8 cm long, with 10 - 15 flowers, densely dendritic-pubescent with trichomes like those of the stems and leaves; pedicels 0.9 - 1 cm long at anthesis, ca. 0.5 mm in diameter at the bae, ca. 1 mm in diameter at the apex, densely pubescent with dendritic trichomes with congested branches, articulated at the base; pedicel scars tightly packed along the woody axes. Buds narrowly ellipsoid, the corolla ca. halfway exserted from the calyx tube before anthesis. Flowers 5 - merous, apparently perfect. Calyx tube 2 - 2.5 mm long, 2 - 2.5 mm wide, cup-shaped, densely dendritic-pubescent, with 4 - 5 linear, awl-shaped appendages 0.5 - 1 mm long, these varying in length within individual flowers, the rim extending ca. 0.1 mm beyond the appendages. Corolla 1 - 1.2 cm in diameter, white or " whitish blue ", stellate, lobed ca. halfway to the base, interpetalar tissue present, the lobes 3 - 3.5 mm long, ca. 2.5 mm wide, spreading or slightly reflexed, membranous, glabrous with densely papillate tips and a few dendritic trichomes along the midvein adaxially. Stamens equal; filament tube minute; free portion of the filaments ca. 0.5 mm long, glabrous; anthers ca. 2.5 mm long, ca. 1 mm wide, yellow, poricidal at the tips, the pores lengthening to slits with age. Ovary conical, glabrous; style ca. 6.5 mm long, glabrous; stigma minutely capitate and slightly bilobed. Fruit a globose berry, 0.6 - 0.7 cm in diameter, black or purple-black when ripe, the pericarp glabrous, thin, matte, opaque; fruiting pedicels 1.1 - 1.3 cm long, ca. 1 mm in diameter at the base, ca. 2 mm in diameter at the apex, green (?), erect to spreading, densely dendritic-pubescent; fruiting calyx a spreading cup beneath the berry, dendritic-pubescent. Seeds ca. 100 + per berry, ca. 1.5 mm long, ca. 1.5 mm wide, flattened with a deep notch at the hilum, yellowish tan, the surfaces minutely pitted, the testal cells sinuate in outline. Stone cells absent. Chromosome number not known.