肾茶 shen cha

Clerodendrum spicatum Thunberg, Fl. Jav. 22. 1825; Clerodendranthus stamineus (Bentham) Kudo; Ocimum aristatum Blume; Orthosiphon aristatus (Blume) Miquel; Orthosiphon spicatus (Thunberg) Backer, Bakhuizen van der Brink, & Steenis 1950, non Bentham, 1848; Orthosiphon stamineus Bentham.

Herbs perennial. Stems erect, 1-1.5 m tall, retrorse pubescent. Petiole (3-)5-15 mm; leaf blade rhombic- to oblong-ovate, (1.2-)2-5.5 × (0.8-)1.3-3.5 cm, papery pubescent, sparsely impressed glandular, base broadly cuneate to truncate-cuneate, margin coarsely mucronate, dentate to remotely mucronate-crenate, apex acute, lateral veins 4- or 5-paired. Verticillasters 6-flowered, in pedunculate thyrses 8-12 cm; rachis densely pubescent; bracts ca. 3.5 × 3 mm, longitudinally parallel veined. Pedicel to 5 mm, densely pubescent. Calyx 5-6 × ca. 2.5 mm, rust colored glandular outside; upper lip ca. 2.5 × 2.5 mm; teeth of lower lip triangular, awned, margin ciliolate, anterior teeth ca. 2 × as long as lateral teeth; fruiting calyx to 1.1 cm × 5 mm, upper lip conspicuously reflexed, lower lip projected. Corolla purplish or white, sparsely rust colored glandular on upper lip; tube 0.9-1.9 cm, × 1 mm, basally sparsely puberulent inside; lower lip oblong, ca. 5 mm; filaments edentate. Nutlets dark brown, ovoid, ca. 2 × 1.6 mm, corrugate. Fl. and fr. May-Nov.

Wet forests and plains, mainly cultivated; 0-1500 m. Fujian, Guangxi, Hainan, Taiwan, Yunnan [India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines; Australia]

Used medicinally for nephritis, urolithiasis and rheumatic arthralgia.

The correct name in Orthosiphon is O. aristatus (Blume) Miquel.