穗花玄参 sui hua xuan shen

Perennials, 0.5-1.5 m tall. Roots fibrous, apically with inflated nodules. Rhizomes perpendicular downward. Stems quadrangular, narrowly winged, basally sparsely villous, apically glandular pubescent, pith white; lower stem hard and not easily compressed at anthesis. Petiole to 5 cm, flattened, narrowly winged; leaf blade oblong-ovate to lanceolate, ca. 10 X 4 cm, base broadly cuneate to subcordate-truncate, margin crenate to serrate. Thyrses terminal, narrowly spicate, to 50 cm; cymes opposite or subopposite, to 20 pairs, widely spaced, compound, many flowered; peduncle short, densely glandular hairy. Pedicel short, densely glandular hairy. Calyx 4-5 mm; lobes ovate-lanceolate, apex acute. Corolla green to yellow green, 8-10 mm, glabrous; middle lobe of lower lip smallest; upper lip 1.5-2 mm longer than lower lip, lobes ovate, with overlapping margins. Stamens shorter than upper lip; staminode obovate to subrounded. Style ca. 3.5 mm, slightly longer than ovary. Capsule narrowly ovoid to ovoid, to 8 mm. Fl. Jul-Aug, fr. Aug-Sep.

* Alpine grassland, scrub, valleys; 2800-3300 m. NW Yunnan.