Japanese name: ツルコウジ（蔓柑子） Scientific name:Ardisia pusilla var. pusilla
[Overview]
An evergreen dwarf shrub found in forests.
It has long creeping stems that bear leaves in whorl-like clusters here and there.
The stems rise obliquely to a height of about 5–10 cm and are densely covered with long reddish-brown soft hairs.
The leaves are simple, 3–5 per node, alternate but arranged in whorl-like clusters; they are ovate to ovate-elliptic, 2–6 cm long and 1.5–3 cm wide, slightly pointed at the tip, with coarse teeth on the margin.
The leaves have long soft hairs on both sides.
The petiole is 5–10 mm long and densely covered with soft hairs.
Umbels arise from the axils of scale leaves and bear 2–4 flowers.
The inflorescence is hairy.
The flowers are white, about 6–7 mm across; the corolla is 5-lobed and has soft hairs and glandular dots on the outside.
The outside of the calyx lobes also has long soft hairs and glandular dots.
The fruit is spherical, 5–6 mm across, and ripens red.
[Notes]
Plants from Okinawa are sometimes distinguished as Ryukyu-tsurukoji.
