牛奶菜 niu nai cai

Marsdenia yaungpienensis Tsiang & P. T. Li.

Lianas to 10 m, finely yellowish tomentose. Stems lenticellate, glabrescent, hollow when dry. Petiole 2.5-7.5 cm; leaf blade ovate-cordate to ovate-oblong, 7-17 × 4-10 cm, thick papery, base cordate, apex short acuminate; lateral veins 5 or 6 pairs. Inflorescences dichasial, 3-13 cm, 10-55-flowered; peduncle 2-4.5 cm. Pedicel 3-5 mm. Sepals ovate or elliptic, ca. 3 × 2 mm. Corolla exterior yellow or rose and puberulent on lobes only, otherwise glabrous, interior yellow-ish or yellow-white and densely tomentose, subcampanulate; tube ca. 2.5(-7) mm; lobes ovate, 2-3 × 2-3 mm, spreading and recurved, apex rounded. Corona lobes ovoid-lanceolate, fleshy, shorter than anthers. Pollinia curved cylindric. Stigma head conical, apex 2-cleft, exserted from corolla tube. Follicles fusiform, 9-13 × 2-3 cm, rusty tomentose. Seeds ovate, 6-13 × 5-8 mm, margin membranous; coma ca. 3.5 cm. Fl. Apr-Jul, fr. Aug-Nov.

Thickets, open woods, along humid valleys; 0-800 m. Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi, Sichuan, Yunnan, Zhejiang

A decoction of all parts is used to detoxify viper bites and to treat pain, traumatic injury, and swelling.