疏花绞股蓝 shu hua jiao gu lan

Stem slender, angular-sulcate, glabrous or puberulent at nodes. Leaves pedately 5-foliolate; petiole ca. 3 cm; leaflets oblong-lanceolate, median leaflets ca. 4 × 1.5 cm, lateral leaflets smaller, membranous, abaxially glabrous, adaxially sparsely puberulent, base obtuse, margin dentate, apex acuminate. Tendrils simple, glabrous. Male flowers unknown. Female flowers: inflorescence a sparse panicle, axillary or terminal, 2-5 × 1.5-2.5 cm, rachis and branches glabrous; pedicel filiform, 4-5 mm; bracts linear; calyx segments oblong-lanceolate, ca. 1.75 × 0.5 mm, glabrous, apex shortly acuminate; corolla segments ovate-lanceolate, ca. 2.5 × 1 mm, puberulent or glabrescent, apex caudate-acuminate; staminodes 5, terete; ovary globose, ca. 2 mm in diam., pubescent; styles 3, ca. 1.5 mm, base puberulent; stigma luniform, irregularly 3-5-dentate. Fruiting pedicel 8-10 mm, glabrous; capsule campanulate, 6-7 mm, glabrous, apex truncate, 3-rostrate, beak 2-3 mm, dehiscent, 2- or 3-seeded. Seeds brown, broadly cordate, ca. 2 × 2.5 mm, ca. 1.5 mm thick, papillate. Fl. and fr. Nov-Dec.

● Mountain slopes; below 300 m. S Anhui.

One of us (Jeffrey) treats this taxon as a synonym of Gynostemma yixingense.