毛叶蝴蝶草 mao ye hu die cao

Torenia nantoensis Hayata.

Herbs, densely white hirsute, rooting from lower nodes. Branches numerous. Petiole ca. 1 cm; leaf blade ovate to ovate-cordate, 1.5-2.2 X 1-1.8 cm, base cuneate, margin crenate, apex obtuse. Inflorescences axillary, usually 3-flowered fascicles, rarely 1-flowered or racemose and 5-flowered. Pedicel 3 cm in fruit. Calyx slender, 6-9 mm at anthesis, to 1.5 cm in fruit, 5-ribbed, somewhat 2-lipped. Corolla purple-red, pale blue-purple, or whitish, 1.2-1.4 cm; lower lip lobes suborbicular, middle lobe ca. 4 mm and slightly larger than lateral lobes; upper lip oblong, ca. 5 X 4 mm. Anterior stamens appendages 1.5-2 mm. Capsule narrowly ellipsoid, ca. 10 X 2-3 mm. Fl. and fr. Aug-May.

* Mountain slopes in shade, trailsides, along stream; low elevations. S Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan, Taiwan.