明党参属 ming dang shen shu

She Menglan (佘孟兰 Sheh Meng-lan); Mark F. Watson

Herbs, perennial, glabrous, withering during summer, sprouting in winter to early spring. Taproot stout, fusiform or irregularly thickened. Stem erect, branched above, rigid, glaucous, base with papery remnant sheaths. Leaves petiolate; blade broadly ovate, ternate-2–3-pinnatisect. Umbels compound, loose; peduncles terminal and lateral; bracts absent or few; rays spreading; bracteoles few. Calyx teeth inconspicuous, minute. Petals white, oblong or ovate-lanceolate, apex acute and inflexed. Stylopodium low-conic; styles reflexed. Fruit ovoid-globose to ovoid-oblong, slightly flattened laterally, commissure constricted, 10–12 striped, smooth; ribs inconspicuous; vittae numerous (ca. 20), scattered throughout the mesocarp. Seed face deeply sulcate. Carpophore 2-parted.

One species.

Changium angustilobum P. K. Mukherjee & Kljuykov (Byull. Moskovsk. Obšč. Isp. Prir., Otd. Biol. 96(5): 71. 1991) was described from Xinjiang. It apparently differs from C. smyrnioides in having narrow, linear leaf lobes. No specimens of this species have been seen, and further study is needed to discern if this plant should be included in this otherwise endemic genus of E China.

Lower Taxon

• Changium smyrnioides H. Wolff