白鹤藤 bai he teng

Argyreia festiva Wallich; Lettsomia chalmersii Hance; L. festiva (Wallich) Bentham & J. D. Hooker.

Shrubs scandent. Stems terete; axial parts silvery sericeous when young, later yellowish or glabrescent. Petiole 1.5-6 cm; leaf blade elliptic or ovate, 5-13.5 X 3-11 cm, abaxially silvery sericeous, adaxially glabrous, base rounded, slightly cordate, or truncate; lateral veins to 9 pairs. Cymes axillary or terminal; peduncle 3.5-8 cm, angular or compressed; bracts elliptic or obovate, 0.8-1.2 4-8 cm, silvery sericeous abaxially, apex obtuse, ?deciduous. Pedicel ca. 5 mm. Sepals ovate-oblong, unequal; outer ones 9-10 6-7 mm; inner ones 6-7 X 4-5 mm, silvery sericeous abaxially, apex obtuse, crinkled or recurved. Fruiting sepals red, navicular, apex recurved or corrugate. Corolla white, broadly funnelform, ca. 2.8 cm, silvery sericeous outside; limb deeply 5-lobed; lobes oblong, apex acuminate. Stamens short exserted; filaments ca. 1.5 cm; anthers oblong, ca. 4 mm. Pistil exserted; ovary glabrous, 2-loculed, 4-ovuled. Style ca. 2 cm; stigma capitate, 2-lobed. Berry enclosed by enlarged calyx, red, globose, ca. 8 mm in diam. Seeds 2-4, brown, ovoid-trigonous, ca. 5 mm. Fl. Aug-Oct, fr. Oct-Jan.

Open forests, thickets, streamsides; 0-200 m. Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan [Laos, Vietnam]

The whole plant has several medicinal uses.