银叶铁线莲 yin ye tie xian lian

Small shrubs, to 1.5 m tall. Stems few or many branches, spinescent or not; branches densely sericeous-puberulous. Leaves pinnate, 7--13-foliolate; petiole 0.2--1.8 cm, densely puberulous; leaflet blades ovate, narrowly ovate, or oblong (0.2--)0.8--4 × 0.4--1.6 cm, papery, unlobed or rarely 2- or 3-lobed, abaxially densely silvery-pannose to appressed puberulous on all or only part of surface, adaxially sparsely puberulous but glabrescent, base rounded to broadly cuneate, margin entire, apex acute; basal veins obscure. Cymes terminal, few to many flowered; bracts foliaceous. Flowers 1.7--2.3 cm in diam. Pedicel 1.4--2 cm, densely puberulous. Sepals 4--6, white, spreading, obovate-oblong, 8--14 × 5--8 mm, abaxially velutinous, adaxially glabrous, apex rounded to obtuse. Stamens 5--8 mm, glabrous; anthers narrowly oblong, 2--2.8 mm, apex inconspicuously apiculate. Ovaries puberulous. Style 4--6 mm, densely villous. Achenes ovate, ca. 4 × 2 mm, puberulous; persistent style ca. 2.5 cm, plumose. Fl. Jul--Aug, fr. Oct.

* Slopes, scrub, thickets, stony areas; 1800--3800 m. SW to W Sichuan, E Xizang, NW Yunnan.