匍茎沿阶草 pu jing yan jie cao

Stem prostrate, elongate, 3--4 mm thick, slender, with spaced nodes, covered with purple-brown or deep brown, membranous sheaths. Leaves cauline, in distant tufts, 5 or 6 per tuft; petiole 4--11 cm; leaf blade glaucous abaxially, oblong to oblong-elliptic, 5--10 × 1.5--3 cm, apex subacute. Scape arising from an apical leaf axil, 7--10 cm. Inflorescence a raceme, 5- or 6-flowered; bracts lanceolate, basal one 7--10 mm. Flowers solitary; pedicel 7--10 mm, articulate proximally. Tepals purplish, lanceolate to ovate, 7--8 × 2--4 mm. Filaments very short; anthers free, ca. 4 mm. Style nearly exceeding perianth, slender. Seeds ellipsoid, ca. 8 mm in diam. Fl. Aug, fr. Sep--Oct. 2 n = 36*.

* Dense tropical forests, evergreen broad-leaved forests, river banks; 1000--2700 m. NW Guangxi (Tian’e Xian), S Yunnan [?Vietnam].

This species probably also occurs in Vietnam: one locality is on the border between Yunnan and Vietnam.