四国谷精草 si guo gu jing cao

Eriocaulon kengii Ruhland; E. sikokianum Maximowicz; E. sikokianum var. linanense W. L. Ma.

Leaves lanceolate, 6--14 cm, 1--1.5 mm wide at middle, veins 4--7. Scapes ca. 8, 18--23 cm, 4- or 5-ribbed; sheath 5--7.5 cm; receptacle pilose; heads pale straw-colored, turbinate; involucral bracts straw-colored, lanceolate to linear-lanceolate, 3.5--7.3 mm, glabrous or shortly ciliate, veins 1--3; floral bracts narrowly obovate, glabrous or villous at margin or abaxially densely and shortly hairy toward apex. Male flowers: sepals 3, spathelike, shortly hairy abaxially and at 3-lobed apex; petals 3, narrowly ovate, anterior one larger than others, glabrous or ciliate at apex, gland black; stamens 6, anthers black. Female flowers: sepals spathelike, abaxially villous, margin white clavate hairy; petals 3, free, clavate, fleshy, adaxially villous, densely ciliate or glabrous at apex, gland black; ovary 3-loculed; style 3-cleft. Seeds with testa hexagonally reticulate, prickles 1(or 2) per cell, T-shaped. Fl. and fr. Aug--Dec.

Damp soil, marshlands; 1000--1600 m. Hunan, Zhejiang [Japan, Korea].