Euonymus balansae Sprague

After publication of the FOC treatment, it was noted that Euonymus balansae should be called instead E. mengtzeanus (Loesener) Sprague, Bull. Misc. Inform. Kew 1908: 35. 1908, with E. balansae Sprague in synonymy.

Evergreen shrubs, scandent, ca. 3 m tall; branches and twigs 4-angled, brown or gray-brown when dry. Petiole 5-8 mm; leaf blade papery, ovate to ovate-elliptic, 10-15 × 4-8 cm, base cuneate or attenuate, margin crenulate, apex acute or acuminate; lateral veins 6-9 pairs, netting before reaching margin, impressed adaxially and prominent abaxially. Peduncle 4-6 cm, 2 or 3 × dichotomously branched, several flowered; pedicel glabrous, 4-5 mm. Flowers 4-merous, 9-10 mm in diam.; sepals suborbicular; petals yellow-green, ovate, base cuneate. Ovary densely prickly; stigma absent. Capsule red when fresh, black when dry, nearly globose, 1-1.3 cm in diam., 4-lobed, densely prickly, prickles ca. 3 mm. Aril bright red. Fl. May-Aug, fr. Jul-Nov.

Yunnan [Vietnam].

Forests, scrub; 1000-3000 m.

Euonymus hystrix W. W. Smith; E. mengtzeanus (Loesener) Sprague; E. theifolius Wallich ex M. A. Lawson var. meng tzeanus Loesener.