美丽唇柱苣苔 mei li chun zhu ju tai

Chirita brevipes C. B. Clarke; C. trailliana Forrest & W. W. Smith; Didymocarpus brevipes (C. B. Clarke) Handel-Mazzetti; D. speciosus (Kurz) Handel-Mazzetti; D. traillianus (Forrest & W. W. Smith) Handel-Mazzetti; Roettlera brevipes (C. B. Clarke) Kuntze; R. speciosa (Kurz) Kuntze.

Perennials. Rhizome internodes inconspicuous. Stems absent or to 5 cm, rust-brown pilose. Leaves 4-6, basal or along stem, crowded at apex, alternate; petiole 1.8-17(-24) cm X 1-3 mm; leaf blade oblique, ovate to suborbicular, 5-19 X 3.7-13 cm, herbaceous, adaxially sparsely white pubescent, eglandular, abaxially leaves often purplish, especially along veins, rust-colored pilose, especially along veins, base oblique, cordate to rounded, margin dentate to serrate or crenate, apex acuminate to rounded; lateral veins 6-9 on each side of midrib, conspicuous. Cymes 1-6-flowered; peduncle 3.5-16.5 cm, rust-brown pubescent and villous; bracts 1 or 2, free, narrowly ovate to oblong, 6-14 X 1-4 mm, rust-brown villous, margin entire to serrulate, apex acute. Pedicel 0.8-2 cm, rust-brown pubescent. Calyx 1.1-2.5 cm, 5-lobed from above to near middle; tube 5-10 mm; lobes unequal, narrowly triangular, 0.7-1.5 cm X 3-4 mm, outside rust-brown pubescent to villous, inside glabrous, margin entire, apex subulate-acuminate. Corolla blue-purple with yellow in tube, 4.8-6.5 cm, outside sparsely puberulent to sparsely pilose, inside puberulent below stamens and near mouth of tube; tube narrowly funnelform, 3.5-4.6 X 1.3-1.8 cm; adaxial lip 1-1.2 cm; abaxial lip 1.6-1.8 cm. Filaments ca. 1.1 cm, glabrous to sparsely pubescent; anthers fused by entire adaxial surfaces, 4-6.5 mm, densely puberulent; staminode 1, ca. 3 mm. Pistil ca. 3.4 cm, puberulent; ovary ca. 2.2 cm. Stigma flabellate, ca. 4 mm, 2-lobed. Capsule at 90 to peduncle, 7-9 cm. Fl. Mar-Sep, fr. May-Jul.

Rocks in wet valleys; 700-3100 m. S and W Yunnan [NE India, Myanmar, Thailand, N Vietnam].

After publication of the family treatment for the Flora of China, this was treated as Henckelia speciosa (Kurz) D. J. Middleton & Mich. Möller (Taxon 60: 777. 2011).