峨眉牛皮消 e mei niu pi xiao

Herbs; most parts puberulent. Stems twining to 4 m, slender. Leaves opposite, usually with small, axillary, stipulelike leaves; petiole 2-3 cm, slender; leaf blade hastate-oblong, 7-14 × 3-6 cm, thin papery, base auriculate-cordate, apex acuminate; lateral veins ca. 10 pairs. Inflorescences umbel-like, 5-10-flowered; peduncle and pedicel 1-2 cm, glabrescent. Sepals ovate-triangular, usually glabrescent, sparsely ciliate. Corolla red or reddish, subrotate; lobes oblong, 3-4 mm, apex obtuse, glabrous. Corona deeply 5-lobed, pubescent; lobes ovate or broadly ovate, apex obtuse, shorter than gynostegium, with a ligulate, adaxial appendage. Anthers subrhomboid, base dilated, appendages ovate, obtuse, incurved over stigma head; pollinia oblong; stigma head slender. Follicles fusiform, acuminate at both ends, 8-10 × ca. 1 cm, glabrous. Seeds ovate, ca. 7 × 3 mm, apex truncate; coma ca. 3 cm. Fl. Jul-Aug, fr. Aug-Oct.

* Thickets, open woods, grasslands. Gansu, Henan, Shaanxi, Sichuan.