Bilobed Grewia

Description

Grewia biloba is a shrub native to China. It is a shrub generally 2 m high and not exceeding 4 m, deciduous and widely branched. The leaves, fairly dark green, with purplish veins, are alternate, oval to slightly rhomboidal, 4 to 10 cm long and 2.5 to 6 cm wide. They are petiolate: the petiole is 0.5 to 1 cm. The blade, with alternate venation, has an acuminate apex and wedge-shaped base. Its edge is toothed. The flowers, white or slightly yellowish, small and quite numerous, are carried by axillary cymes, with a peduncle of less than one centimeter, on short pedicels of about half a centimeter. The 5 sepals are 4 to 7 mm long, the 5 petals, only 1 to 1.5 mm. The many stamens have a 2 mm filament. The ovary bears a style of half a centimeter. The fruit, red, is a drupe, about 1 cm in diameter. There are three varieties: Grewia biloba G.Don var. parviflora (Bunge) Hand.-Mazz. (synonym: Grewia parviflora Bunge) Grewia biloba var. biloba. Grewia biloba var. microphylla (Maximowicz) Hand.-Mazz. Grewia biloba is fairly widely represented throughout China (Anhui, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hebei, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Shaanxi, Shandong, Shanxi, Sichuan, Yunnan) and Korea. It is able to withstand -20°C.