1. Rhodotypos scandens (Thunb.) Makino (jet bead)

Map 2485

Plants shrubs, 0.5–2.0 m tall. Stems arched, slender, branched, unarmed. Twigs green, becoming reddish brown, glabrous, the winter buds small, with several overlapping scales. Leaves opposite, the petioles 2–10 mm long, short-hairy. Stipules 2–4 mm long, linear, the margins hairy, shed early. Leaf blades 4–8(–10) cm long, narrowly to broadly ovate, rounded to broadly angled at the base, tapered to a sharply pointed tip, the margins sharply, irregularly, and doubly toothed, the upper surface green, sparsely pubescent with short, straight hairs, sometimes somewhat shiny, with the main veins impressed, the undersurface slightly lighter green, sparsely to moderately hairy, with raised veins. Inflorescences terminal, of solitary flowers, the stalks 6–13 mm long at flowering, becoming elongated to 12–30 mm at fruiting; lacking bracts. Flowers perigynous, the hypanthia saucer-shaped, with a prominent, ridgelike, irregularly 4-lobed disc just inside its rim, closely subtended by 4 bractlets, these alternating with the sepals, 2.5–5.0 mm long, linear to narrowly lanceolate, usually shed as the fruits mature. Sepals 4, 8–16 mm long, ovate to oblong-ovate or ovate-elliptic, thickened toward the base, tapered to sharply pointed tips, the margins with numerous, irregular, sharp, slender teeth, sparsely to moderately short-hairy, at least toward the tips, persistent at fruiting. Petals 4, 17–25 mm long, broadly obovate to nearly circular, white, the margins often slightly uneven, the upper surface sometimes appearing slightly corrugated or finely wrinkled. Stamens numerous, the filaments often grouped into more or less 4 clusters, 4–6 mm long, white, the anthers yellow. Pistils usually 4 per flower, each with 1 carpel, more or less covered by the hypanthial disc at flowering. Ovaries superior, each with 1 locule, each with 2 ovules. Styles 1 per pistil, slender, the stigma capitate. Fruits 1–4, aggregated on the slightly expanded receptacle, drupelike (the inner layer thin and hard, the middle layer dry, papery, the outer layer thin, hard), 7–9 mm in the longest dimension, asymmetrically broadly obovoid to broadly ellipsoid, the outer surface glabrous, smooth, black or brownish black, shiny. April–June.

Introduced, uncommon, known thus far only from Cape Girardeau County and the city of St. Louis (native of Asia; introduced sporadically in the northeastern U.S. west to Wisconsin and Missouri). Mesic upland forests.

This species was first reported for Missouri by T. E. Smith (1998b) without citation of specimens. In some states, jet bead has become widely enough established in native forests and woodlands to be considered an invasive exotic.