盾叶秋海棠 dun ye qiu hai tang

Herbs. Rhizomes elongate, to 1.8 cm in diam. Leaves basal; stipules caducous, ca. 14 × 9 mm; petiole 7-18 cm, glabrous; blade succulent, peltate, broadly ovate to orbicular, nearly symmetric, 10-14 × 7.5-10 cm, subglabrous to glabrous, venation palmate, 10-12-veined, base slightly oblique, rounded, margin indistinctly crenulate, apex abruptly caudate. Inflorescences 20-39 cm tall, glabrous; bracts caducous, 5.3-9 × 3.9-8.9 mm. Staminate flowers: pedicel 7-17 mm; tepals 4, pinkish, outer 2 suborbicular or oblate, 1.2-1.8 × 1.7-1.9 cm, glabrous, inner 2 narrowly oblong, 6-10 × 2-5 mm; stamens 28-35; filaments 1.5-2.2 mm, free; anthers obovoid-oblong, 0.9-1.1 mm, apex obtuse. Pistillate flowers: pedicel 14-18 mm; tepals 3, pinkish, outer 2 suborbicular, 1.2-1.5 × 1.7-1.8 cm, glabrous, inner 1 oblong, ca. 10 × 5-6 mm; ovary obovoid-oblong, ca. 9 × 4-5 mm, glabrous, 3-loculed; placentae axile, bilamellate; styles 3, 4-4.9 mm, free; stigmas 2-cleft, spiraled. Capsule nodding, unequally 3-winged; abaxial wing triangular, 1-1.6 × 0.8-1 cm; lateral wings smaller. Fl. Jun-Jul, fr. Jul.

● Broad-leaved forests, on limestone rocks in semishaded but dry environments, near mountain summits; ca. 900 m. Hainan (Baisha, Changjiang).