美丽桐属 mei li tong shu

Trees, semiepiphytic pseudovines, or parasitic shrubs, deciduous. Young branches pithed. Leaves opposite, leathery, abaxially sometimes glandular at vein axils, margin entire. Inflorescences of lateral thyrses or racemes; cymes 3-9-flowered. Calyx campanulate, thick, irregularly 3- or 4-lobed or apex truncate. Corolla tube short, incurved; limb 2-lipped; lower lip 3-lobed, spreading; upper lip 2-lobed, erect, exceeding lower lip. Stamens didynamous, hairy, inserted near tube base, exserted; anthers basifixed, oblong-sagittate, base 2-lobed, locules parallel and confluent at apex; staminodes absent. Styles elongated, apex incurved; stigma inconspicuous. Capsule 2-valved, septicidal; valves margin involute, separating from placental column. Seeds numerous, linear, membranous winged.

Two species: Bhutan, China, Indonesia, Myanmar, Nepal, Sikkim, Vietnam; one species in China.

Lower Taxon

• Wightia speciosissima (D. Don) Merrill