白药谷精草 bai yao gu jing cao

Eriocaulon cinereum var. sieboldianum (Siebold & Zuccarini ex Steudel) T. Koyama; E. formosanum Hayata; E. heteranthum Bentham; E. sieboldianum Siebold & Zuccarini ex Steudel.

Leaves narrowly linear, 2--5(--8) cm, 0.8--1(--1.7) mm wide at middle, glabrous, veins 3(--5). Scapes 6--30, 6--9(--19) cm, 4--6-ribbed; sheath 1.5--2(--3.5) cm; receptacle villous, occasionally glabrous; heads light yellow to dark green, subglobose to broadly ovoid, ca. 4 × 3--3.5 mm; involucral bracts pale green-yellow to blackish, obovate to elliptic, 0.9--1.9 × 1--1.4 mm, membranous, glabrous; floral bracts oblong to oblanceolate, glabrous or occasionally abaxially villous. Male flowers: sepals spathelike, 1.3--1.9 mm, glabrous or abaxially hairy toward 3-cleft apex; petals 3, ovate to oblong, anterior one slightly larger than others, shortly hairy at apex, gland black or brown; anthers white to dusky. Female flowers: sepals 2 or 3, blackish, free, linear, sparsely villous abaxially and at margin, posterior one absent or to 1 mm, lateral ones 1--1.7 mm; petals absent; ovary 3-loculed; style 3-cleft. Seeds ovoid, 0.4--0.5 mm; testa hexagonally reticulate, prickles absent. Fl. and fr. Jun--Oct.

Rice fields, valleys, damp soil; near sea level to 1200 m. Anhui, Fujian, Gansu, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Shaanxi, Sichuan, Taiwan, Yunnan, Zhejiang [Afghanistan, Bhutan, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Laos, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam; Africa, Australia].

Medicinal.