蛇根叶属 she gen ye shu

Authors: Jia-qi Hu & Thomas F. Daniel

Phyllophiorhiza Kuntze.

Herbs, erect, without cystoliths. Leaves opposite, petiolate; leaf blade pinnately veined, margin entire. Inflorescence terminal spikes to racemes, unbranched or branched at base; bracts subopposite to alternate; bracteoles present. Calyx subequally 5-lobed. Corolla tube expanded apically, annular hairy at throat or glabrous; limb 2-lipped; lower lip 3-lobed; upper lip 2-lobed; lobes descending cochlear in bud. Stamens 2, exserted; anthers 2-thecous; thecae ellipsoid to oblong, divergent toward apex; staminodes 2. Ovary ovoid-spherical; ovules 13-18 per locule, arranged in 2 rows per locule; style exserted; stigma 2-lobed. Capsule ovoid, with numerous seeds; retinacula absent. Seeds subglobose.

Two species: China, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam; one species in China.

Other species previously treated in this genus pertain to other genera. Ophiorrhiziphyllon hypoleucum (Benoist) Benoist = Staurogyne hypoleuca Benoist and O. laxum Lindau = Justicia sp., according to Hossain (A. B. M. E. Hossain, Studies in the Classification and Affinities of Acanthaceae (Ph.D. Dissertation), University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom. 1971).

Lower Taxon

• Ophiorrhiziphyllon macrobotryum Kurz