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6. Helicteres Linnaeus, Sp. Pl.  2: 963.  1753.  
山芝麻属 shan zhi ma shu 
 
 
 
 
 
Trees or shrubs. Branches or branchlets ± stellate. Leaves simple, entire or serrate. Flowers bisexual, solitary or cymose, axillary or rarely terminate. Epicalyx lobes minute. Calyx tube-shaped, 5-lobed, lobes usually unequal and 2-lipped. Petals 5, equal to each other or 2-lipped, clawed and usually with auriculate appendage. Anthers 10, on top of elongate androgynophore; filaments ± connate, enclosing pistil; staminodes 5, within stamens. Ovary 5-celled, 5-angular; ovules numerous in each locule; styles 5, linear, apically slightly swollen. Mature capsule straight or spirally twisted, usually densely hairy, often with soft setae which are themselves hairy. Seeds verrucose. 
About 60 species: tropical America and Asia; ten species (one endemic) in China. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                         
		
                          
                          
			
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  | 1 | Capsule spirally twisted, not setose; inflorescences several per axil, densely clustered; leaf blade broadly oblong-obovate, apex somewhat truncate and usually lobed. |  | 1 H. isora |  
  | + | Capsule not twisted, sparsely to densely softly setose; inflorescences 1 per axil, often spikelike or with subtending leaves very reduced to form a terminal thyrse; leaf blade usually narrower, apex not truncate, often not lobed |  | (2) |  
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  | 2 (1) | Leaf blade margin entire or rarely with a few minute teeth near apex |  | (3) |  
  | + | Leaf blade margin obviously serrate or dentate from base |  | (6) |  
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  | 3 (2) | Capsule apex obtuse; petiole ca. 12 mm, leaf blade 6-10 cm, apex obtuse. |  | 2 H. obtusa |  
  | + | Capsule apex pointed or beaked; petiole 3-9 mm, leaf blade 3.5-7.5 cm, apex usually acuminate, acute or obtuse with acumen (obtuse in H. prostrata) |  | (4) |  
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  | 4 (3) | Subshrubs to 0.45 m tall, stems prostrate; leaf blade 2-3.5 cm. |  | 10 H. prostrata |  
  | + | Shrubs 1-2 m tall, stems erect or ascending; leaf blade 3.5-7.5 cm |  | (5) |  
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  | 5 (4) | Branchlets pilose with gray-green hairs; leaf blade margin entire to apex; capsule with dense mixed stellate and long simple hairs. |  | 3 H. angustifolia |  
  | + | Branchlets tomentose with yellow-brown hairs; leaf blade margin entire or denticulate near apex; capsule with dense long simple hairs. |  | 4 H. lanceolata |  
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  | 6 (2) | Calyx 12-18 mm; capsule 2.5-5 cm |  | (7) |  
  | + | Calyx 4-6 mm; capsule 1.5-2 cm |  | (8) |  
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  | 7 (6) | Leaf blade margin lobed; petals white. |  | 8 H. viscida |  
  | + | Leaf blade margin irregularly dentate; petals red or purplish red. |  | 9 H. hirsuta |  
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  | 8 (6) | Upper leaves of fertile shoots very reduced to a lax thyrse; petals yellow. |  | 5 H. elongata |  
  | + | Upper leaves of fertile shoots not or only slightly reduced; petals red-purple or blue-purple |  | (9) |  
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  | 9 (8) | Leaf blade abaxially sparsely stellate pilose; petals with central line of hairs; stipules as long as petiole. |  | 6 H. glabriuscula |  
  | + | Leaf blade abaxially densely brown stellate tomentose; petals glabrous; stipules ca. 2 × as long as petiole. |  | 7 H. plebeja |  |  
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Lower Taxa
 
   
	 
                      
                         
		
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