五柱绞股蓝 wu zhu jiao gu lan

Plants with short and succulent rootstocks. Stem ca. 2 m or more, ca. 4 mm in diam., angular, white villous. Tendrils filiform, villous below, gradually glabrescent above, apex bifid. Leaves pedate, with (5-)7 leaflets; petiole 9-13 cm, villous; leaflet blade elliptic, central leaflet ca. 10 cm, both surfaces sparsely pubescent, densely villous along veins, margin irregularly serrate, apex shortly acuminate; petiolule 3-5 mm; lateral leaflet blades gradually smaller and asymmetrical, petiolule shorter; outermost leaflet without petiolule. Plants dioecious. Male flowers numerous in panicle, 3-4 cm, villous; calyx segments narrowly elliptic, ca. 0.9 × 0.5 mm, both surfaces glabrous, apex obtuse; corolla segments ovate, ca. 4 × 0.6 mm, outside glabrous, inside glandular hairy, with obscure midrib, apex filiform-acuminate; filaments ca. 0.2 mm, connective cylindrical. Female flower(s) solitary or 2(or 3) in very short raceme; peduncles 2-3 mm; pedicels up to 4 cm; calyx and corolla as in male flowers; staminodes absent; gynoecium with (4 or)5 carpels; ovary densely pubescent and glandular pubescent, (4 or)5-locular, each locule with 1 ovule; styles (4 or)5, divaricate; stigmas 2, explanate. Fruit immature. Fl. Jul.

● Evergreen broad-leaved forests, moist mountains. NW Hunan (Dayong).