腹脐草属 fu qi cao shu

Herbs short strigose, bristly. Leaves alternate, sessile, margin obtusely incised-dentate or undulate. Flowers solitary in leaf axils, short pedicellate or ± sessile. Calyx 5-parted nearly to base; lobes stellate spreading. Corolla 5-parted; tube ca. 2 × as long as lobes; throat with 5 scaly pilose appendages; limb divided; lobes spreading, overlapping in bud. Stamens included, below appendages. Ovary 4-divided. Stigma subcapitate. Nutlets erect, fissured-wrinkled, densely tuberculate; attachment scar adaxial, oblong, margin thickened.

Two species: Afghanistan, India, Pakistan, SW Asia; one species in China.

Lower Taxon

• Gastrocotyle hispida (Forsskål) Bunge