火索藤 huo suo teng

Lianas, woody, robust. Branches densely brown tomen­tose; young branches angulate; tendrils tomentose first, later glabrous. Stipules caducous; petiole 4-7 cm, densely tomen­tose; leaf blade suborbicular, 12-18(-23) × 10-16(-20) cm, thickly papery, abaxially yellow-brown tomentose, more so on veins, adaxially glabrous or subglabrous except near veins, primary veins 9-13, base deeply or shallowly cordate, apex bi­fid to 1/3-1/2 on flowering branches, lobes obtuse or rarely acute at apex. Inflorescence a corymbose raceme, terminal or lateral, with ca. 12 flowers, capitate before flowers open while buds are clustered together, densely brown tomentose; bracts caducous, lanceolate; bracteoles linear. Pedicel 2-5 cm. Flower buds ellipsoid. Receptacle cupular, short; calyx lobes 5, re­flexed at anthesis, lanceolate. Petals white, subequal, spatulate, 12-22 mm, abaxially tomentose at middle, adaxially glabrous, clawed, margin crisped. Fertile stamens 3; filaments ca. 25 mm, glabrous; anthers oblong, ca. 5 mm. Staminodes 2-5. Ovary shortly stalked, densely rusty tomentose; style upper part gla­brous; stigma disciform, large. Legume strap-shaped, com­pressed, dehiscent, 16-30 × 4-7 cm; valves hard woody, densely rusty tomentose. Seeds 6-11, ellipsoid, compressed, ca. 20 mm in diam. Fl. Apr-May, fr. Jul-Dec.

● Thickets on hill slopes and in valleys. Guangxi, Guizhou, Sichuan, Yunnan.