台湾楼梯草 tai wan lou ti cao

Herbs perennial, monoecious or dioecious, up to 80 cm tall. Stems ascending or erect, branched, glabrous. Leaves alternate; nanophyll absent; stipules narrowly triangular, 1.5-2.3 mm, with cystoliths, nearly glabrous; petiole 0-3 mm; leaf blade lanceolate or narrowly elliptic to elliptic, to 18 × 5 cm, membranous to very thickly papery, major basal lateral veins absent and venation pinnate, cystoliths conspicuous, dense; base with broader half broadly cuneate, margin sharply serrate to dentate, apex acuminate or caudate. Male inflorescences solitary, simple, ca. 12 mm in diam., sessile or subsessile. receptacle obscure; bracts ovate-cymbiform; bracteoles cymbiform. Female inflorescences ca. 7 mm in diam.; receptacle obscure; bracts nearly triangular; bracteoles linear-lanceolate. Male flowers 5-merous. Achenes ellipsoidal, ca. 12-ribbed. Fl. spring-autumn.

* Ravines, moist shady forests. Taiwan (Lan Yu).