白棠子树 bai tang zi shu

Porphyra dichotoma Loureiro, Fl. Cochinch. 1: 70. 1790.

Shrubs 1(-3) m tall, much branched. Branchlets slender, with stellate hairs when young. Leaves sessile or subsessile; leaf blade lanceolate to obovate, 2-6(-10) X 1-3(-4) cm, papery, abaxially with small yellow-glandular stellate hairs on margins, adaxially glabrous and subscabrous, base cuneate, margin coarsely dentate along apical part, apex usually very short acuminate with an obtuse tip, veins 4 or 5 pairs. Cymes 1-2.5 cm across; peduncle slender, 8-12 cm; bracts linear. Calyx cup-shaped, less than 1 mm, subtruncate, obscurely dentate, outside few glandular. Corolla purple, tube 2 X as long as calyx tube. Stamens exserted; filaments 2 X as long as corolla tube, glabrous. Ovary glabrous, sparsely yellow glandular. Fruit subglobose, 1-2 mm in diam., with few glands. 2n = 36.

Mixed forests on mountain slopes; below 600 m. Anhui, Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hebei, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Shandong, Taiwan, Zhejiang [Japan, Korea, Vietnam]

Medicinal.