《中国植物志》|| 卫矛科 CELASTRACEAE ||腋花组 Sect. Axillares (Rehd. et Wils.) C. Y. Cheng ||南蛇藤 Celastrus orbiculatus Thunb.

10. 南蛇藤（植物名实图考）蔓性落霜红（苏南）、南蛇风、大南蛇、香龙草（湖南长沙）、果山藤（湖南）图版24：1-2
Celastrus orbiculatus Thunb. Fl. Jap. 42. 1784, in tab. content; Gmel. Syst. Veg. 406. 1796; Airy-Shaw in Curtis' Bot. Mag. 158: tab. 9394. 1935; D. Hou in Ann. Miss. Bot. Gard. 42: 260. 1955 p. p.; 刘慎谔, 东北木本植物图志381. 图版124: 288. 1955;中国高等植物图鉴2: 658.图3045. 1972;秦岭植物志1 (3) 214. 1981.——C. articulatus Thunb. 1. c. 97. 1784. nom. sphalm. ——C. tartarinowii Rupr. in Bull. Acad. Sci. St. Petersb. Ser. 2, 15: 357. 1857. ——C. articulatus Thunb. var. pubescens Makino in Bot. Mag. Tokyo. 7: 102. 1893. ——C. orbiculatus Thunb. f. major Loes. in Engl. Bot. Jahrb. 30: 468. 1902. ——C. jeholensis Nakai apud Nakai et Kitagawa, in Rep. Ist Sc. Exped. "Manchouko"sect. 4 (1): 6. pl. 1. 1934.
小枝光滑无毛，灰棕色或棕褐色，具稀而不明显的皮孔；腋芽小，卵状到卵圆状，长1-3毫米。叶通常阔倒卵形，近圆形或长方椭圆形，长5-13厘米，宽3-9厘米，先端圆阔，具有小尖头或短渐尖，基部阔楔形到近钝圆形，边缘具锯齿，两面光滑无毛或叶背脉上具稀疏短柔毛，侧脉3-5对；叶柄细长1-2厘米。聚伞花序腋生，间有顶生，花序长1-3厘米，小花1-3朵，偶仅1-2朵，小花梗关节在中部以下或近基部；雄花萼片钝三角形；花瓣倒卵椭圆形或长方形，长3-4厘米，宽2-2.5毫米；花盘浅杯状，裂片浅，顶端圆钝；雄蕊长2-3毫米，退化雌蕊不发达；雌花花冠较雄花窄小，花盘稍深厚，肉质，退化雄蕊极短小；子房近球状，花柱长约1.5毫米，柱头3深裂，裂端再2浅裂。蒴果近球状，直径8-10毫米；种子椭圆状稍扁，长4-5毫米，直径2.5-3毫米，赤褐色。花期5-6月，果期7-10月。
产于黑龙江、吉林、辽宁、内蒙古、河北、山东、山西、河南、陕西、甘肃、江苏、安徽、浙江、江西、湖北、四川。为我国分布最广泛的种之一。生长于海拔450-2200米山坡灌丛。分布达朝鲜、日本。模式标本采自日本。
在东北、华北地区及山东以本种的成熟果实作中药合欢花用；树皮制优质纤维，种子含油50%。
在看过大量本种的标本之后，对C. articulatus var. pubescens Makino的毛被问题，发现与植物的分布、形态特征等均无规律可循，同一个地区甚至同一份标本上有的叶背有毛，有的就无毛，因之不易作为一个独立变种的依据。
本种是一个分布很广泛的种，在形态上，尤其是叶片的形状，变化幅度大，将叶片近圆形的另作一变种C. articulatus var. orbiculatus Wang处理是不合适的。
从C. jeholensis Nakai原文献的描述及附图上看，除叶片稍大有深齿外，其他如叶形、叶脉、花以及果实的形态特征均与本种无区别。且又在本种分布的地区范围之中，不能成为独立种。
本种之拉丁名称在Thunberg的原始记载(Fl. Jap. p. 97)中为C. articulatus,可是在该书前面的目录1. c. p. 42中为orbiculatus. 1796年Gmelin (Syst. Veg. p. 406)使用了orbiculatus一名，而未曾提及articulatus.后来，在1881年Maximowicz (Mel. Biol. Acad. St. Petersb. 11: 201.) 曾提出articulatus一名乃是由于orbiculatus的印刷错误而来。到1935年Airy-Shaw (Curtis. Bot. Mag. 158: tab. 9394)也提出articulatus一名既属错印，越快丢掉越好。1955年侯定(1. c. 263)在谈到这个问题时同意以上观点，并且提出orbiculatus一名能更好地反映出本种叶形的特点。因之，本书也同意采用此名。

《Flora of North America》|| Celastraceae || || Celastrus orbiculatus

2. Celastrus orbiculatus Thunberg in J. A. Murray, Syst. Veg. ed. 14. 237. 1784.
[I W]

Oriental bittersweet Oriental bittersweet

Vines 40+ m. Leaves: blade suborbiculate to broadly oblong-obovate or ovate-orbiculate, 4–6 × 3–5 cm, aestivation conduplicate. Inflorescences axillary, cymes, 1–2 cm. Staminate flowers: pollen white. Capsules yellow when mature, globose, 7–10 mm diam., glabrous. Seeds orange, ellipsoid, 6 mm. 2n = 46.

Flowering spring–summer. Thickets, woodland margins, open woods, roadsides, usually rich soils; 0–900 m; introduced; N.B., Ont., P.E.I., Que.; Ala., Ark., Conn., Del., D.C., Ga., Ill., Ind., Iowa, Kans., Ky., Maine, Md., Mass., Mich., Minn., Mo., N.H., N.J., N.Y., N.C., Ohio, Pa., R.I., S.C., Tenn., Vt., Va., Wash., W.Va., Wis.; Asia (China, Japan, Korea).

Celastrus orbiculatus has become a seriously invasive plant in much of eastern North America.

《Flora of China》|| Celastraceae || Celastrus ||南蛇藤 Celastrus orbiculatus

13. Celastrus orbiculatus Thunberg in Murray, Syst. Veg., ed. 14. 237. 1784.

南蛇藤 nan she teng

Celastrus articulatus Thunberg; C. articulatus var. pubescens Makino; C. jeholensis Nakai; C. oblongifolius Hayata; C. tartarinowii Ruprecht.

Deciduous twining shrubs; branchlets glabrous, gray- brown or brown, with sparse and inconspicuous lenticels; axillary buds small, ovate to elliptic, 1-3 mm. Petiole slender, 1-2 cm; leaf blade generally broadly ovate, suborbicular, or rectangular-elliptic, 5-13 × 3-9 cm, glabrous or abaxially sparsely pubescent on veins, base broadly cuneate to obtuse-orbicular, margin serrate, apex broadly rounded, muriculate, or shortly acuminate; secondary veins 3-5 pairs. Cymes axillary, sometimes terminal, 1-3 cm, 1-7-flowered; pedicels jointed below middle or nearly to base. Male flowers: sepals obtuse-triangular; petals obovate-elliptic to rectangular, 3-4 × 2-2.5 mm; disk shallowly cupuliform, lobe shallow, apex rounded-obtuse; stamens 2-3 mm. Female flowers: corolla relatively shorter than that of male flower; disk slightly thick, carnose; staminodes very short; ovary approximately globose; styles ca. 1.5 mm; stigma deeply 3-lobed, lobe apex shallowly 2-lobed. Capsule approximately globose, 8-13 mm wide, yellow, 3-valved. Seeds elliptic, slightly flat, 4-5 × 2.5-3 mm, reddish brown; aril orange-red. Fl. May-Jun, fr. Jul-Oct.

Mixed forests, forest margins, thickets on grassy slopes; 400-2200 m. Anhui, Gansu, Hebei, Heilongjiang, Henan, Hubei, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Jilin, Liaoning, Nei Mongol, Shaanxi, Shandong, Shanxi, Sichuan, Zhejiang [Japan, Korea].

This is one of the most widely distributed Celastrus species in China. The ripe fruit is used in Chinese traditional medicine, called "wattle flower" in NE and N China. The bark is used for fine fiber, and seed oiliness is 50%. It is also widely distributed in Asia and its leaf morphology is very variable.