多枝楼梯草 duo zhi lou ti cao

Elatostema ramosum var. villosum W. T. Wang.

Herbs perennial, dioecious, 20-30 cm tall. Stems ascending or erect, 3- or 4-branched; branchlets villous. Leaves alternate; nanophylls absent; stipules triangular to linear, 1-2 × 0.4-0.6 mm, glabrous, with cystoliths; petiole absent; leaf blade obliquely elliptic, 2-3.5 × 0.5-1 cm, herbaceous, major basal lateral veins asymmetric, 1 basal, the other arising above base, abaxial surface sparsely villous or puberulent only along veins, adaxial surface glabrous or strigillose, cystoliths conspicuous, dense; base with broader half auriculate, margin serrate, apex cuspidate or acuminate. Female inflorescences solitary, 30-flowered or more, ca. 3 mm in diam., sessile; receptacle very small; bracts triangular; bracteoles narrowly lanceolate to linear. Achenes narrowly ovoid, 8-ribbed. Fl. Sep-May.

* Mountain forests, rock crevices; ca. 1500 m. SW Guangxi, SW Guizhou.