牛舌草属 niu she cao shu

Lycopsis Linnaeus.

Herbs annual or perennial, sparsely strigose or hispid, rarely soft appressed pubescent. Stems erect or spreading. Leaves alternate. Cymes terminal, widely spaced in fruit, scorpioid; bracts lanceolate. Calyx 5-parted nearly to base or less; lobes equal or unequal, linear to triangular, often slightly enlarged in fruit. Corolla blue-purple or yellowish, regular or slightly zygomorphic; tube usually longer than calyx, straight or arcuate or geniculate curved; throat appendages scaly or tuberculate and short pubescent; limb campanulate; lobes 5, equal or unequal, apex obtuse. Stamens inserted at or below middle of corolla tube, included; filaments short, filiform; anthers ovate-oblong, apex obtuse. Ovary 4-divided. Style included in corolla tube; stigma capitate, 2-cleft. Gynobase flat. Nutlets straight, reniform, or oblique-ovoid, reticulate-wrinkled; attachment scar at or near base, margin ringlike, thickened, hardened.

About 50 species: N Africa, C and W Asia, Europe; one species in China.

Lower Taxon

• Anchusa ovata Lehmann