野菰 ye gu

Aeginetia japonica Siebold & Zuccarini; Orobanche aeginetia Linnaeus; Phelipaea indica (Linnaeus) Sprengel ex Steudel.

Plants 15-40(-50) cm tall. Root slightly fleshy, with small branches. Stems unbranched or branched from near base. Leaves red, ovate-lanceolate or lanceolate, 5-10 X 3-4 mm, glabrous. Flowers usually solitary. Pedicel usually erect, 10-30(-40) cm, ca. 3 mm in diam. Calyx apex acute or acuminate. Corolla purple-red striate, indistinctly bilabiate, tubular-campanulate, 2-4.5 cm; tube slightly curved; lobes subentire. Filaments purple, 7-9 mm, glabrous; anthers yellow. Ovary 1-locular; parietal placentas 4. Style 1-1.5 cm; stigma pale yellow. Capsule conical, or long ovoid-globose, 2-3 cm. Seeds yellow, ellipsoid, ca. 0.04 mm. Fl. Apr-Aug, fr. Aug-Oct. 2n = 30.

Slopes, roadsides; 200-1800 m. Anhui, Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hunan, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Sichuan, Taiwan, Yunnan, Zhejiang [Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Japan, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam].

Parasitic on species of Miscanthus Andersson and Saccharum Linnaeus.

The roots and flowers are used medicinally for clearing away heat and toxic materials.