女贞 nu zhen

Esquirolia sinensis H. Léveillé; Ligustrum compactum (Wallich ex G. Don) J. D. Hooker & Thomson ex Brandis var. latifolium W. C. Cheng; L. esquirolii H. Léveillé; L. lucidum var. esquirolii (H. Léveillé) H. Léveillé; L. lucidum f. latifolium (W. C. Cheng) P. S. Hsu.

Shrubs or trees to 25 m, evergreen or deciduous, glabrous. Branchlets terete. Petiole 1-3 cm; leaf blade ovate to sometimes broadly elliptic or elliptic to lanceolate, 6-17 × 3-8 cm, leathery or papery, base rounded or sometimes attenuate, apex acute to acuminate or sometimes obtuse; primary veins 4-11 on each side of midrib, slightly raised or obscure. Panicles terminal, 8-20 × 8-25 cm; rachis angular in fruit. Flowers sessile or nearly so. Calyx 1.5-2 mm. Corolla 4-5 mm; tube ca. as long as lobes. Stamens approaching apex of corolla lobes; anthers 1-1.5 mm. Fruit deep blue-black, ripening red-black, reniform or nearly so, 7-10 × 4-6 mm. Fl. May-Jul, fr. Jul-May.

* Woods; below 2900 m. Anhui, Fujian, Gansu, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hainan, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Shaanxi, Sichuan, Xizang, Yunnan, Zhejiang.

Evergreen plants with (4 or)5 or 6(-9) primary veins on each side of leaf blade midrib have been recognized as f. lucidum, whereas deciduous plants with 7-11 primary veins on each side of leaf blade midrib as f. latifolium (W. C. Cheng) P. S. Hsu.

Grown for culturing wax insects to obtain white wax. The fruit is used as a tonic.