光叶楼梯草 guang ye lou ti cao

Elatostema laevissimum var. puberulum W. T. Wang.

Subshrubs monoecious or dioecious, 50-200 cm tall. Stems erect, branched, glabrous or densely puberulent. Leaves alternate; nanophylls absent; stipules narrowly triangular, 2-5 × 0.8-1 mm, glabrous, without cystoliths; petiole 2-4 mm; leaf blade obliquely elliptic, 5.5-12 × 3-5.5 cm, herbaceous, major basal lateral veins both arising at base of leaf blade or 1 arising above base, abaxial surface glabrous or pilose along nerves, adaxial surface sparsely strigillose, cystoliths absent or only present along primary nerve and secondary nerves; base with broader half rounded, margin crenate, apex acuminate. Male inflorescences usually 2- or 3-clustered, simple, 3-4 mm in diam.; peduncle 1.5-2 mm; receptacle absent or very small; bracts connate, ca. 0.8 mm. Female inflorescences 1.5-2.5 mm in diam.; peduncle 0-1 mm; receptacle absent or very small; bracts broadly ovate; bracteoles oblong or linear. Male flowers 4-merous. Achenes ovoid, 5-ribbed. Fl. Aug-Feb.

Dark damp places or forests in valleys; 1000-2200 m. W Guangxi, Hainan, SE Xizang, Yunnan [N Vietnam].