厚叶楼梯草 hou ye lou ti cao

Herbs perennial, dioecious, 4.5-24 cm tall. Stems erect, simple, pilose. Leaves alternate; nanophylls absent; stipules lanceolate, 3.5-5 × 1-1.5 mm, glabrous, with cystoliths; petiole 0-1 mm; leaf blade obliquely elliptic or obliquely obovate-oblong, 1.5-4.5 × 1-2 cm, leathery, major basal lateral veins both arising at base of leaf blade or 1 arising above base, abaxial surface glabrous, adaxial surface sparsely strigillose along veins, cystoliths conspicuous, dense; base with broader half broadly cuneate or rounded, margin crenate, apex acuminate or acute. Inflorescences sessile. Male inflorescences solitary, simple, 3-5 mm in diam.; receptacle absent; bracts connate, 3-8 mm; bracteoles linear or spatulate-linear. Female inflorescences solitary, 30-flowered or more, 2-2.5 mm in diam.; receptacle obscure; bracts ovate-triangular; bracteoles linear. Male flowers 4-merous. Achenes narrowly ellipsoid, 5-ribbed. Fl. Feb-May.

* Damp rocks in forests; 400-700 m. SE Yunnan.