木藤首乌 mu teng shou wu

Polygonum aubertii L. Henry, Rev. Hort. 79: 82. 1907; Bilderkykia aubertii (L. Henry) Moldenke; Reynoutria aubertii (L. Henry) Moldenke; Tiniaria aubertii (L. Henry) Hedberg ex Janchen.

Subshrubs. Stems twining, gray-brown, 1-4 m, glabrous. Leaves clustered, rarely solitary; petiole 1.5-2.5 cm; leaf blade narrowly ovate or ovate, 2.5-5 × 1.5-3 cm, both surfaces subleathery, glabrous, base subcordate, margin entire, apex acute; ocrea brown, membranous, oblique, dehiscent. Inflorescence axillary or terminal, paniculate, few branched; peduncle papillate; bracts membranous, apex acute, each 3-6-flowered. Pedicel 3-4 mm, slender, base articulate. Perianth greenish or white, 5-parted; tepals elliptic, outer 3 larger, accrescent and winged on abaxial surface in fruit; wings decurrent below to pedicels; fruiting perianth obovate, 4-5 mm in diam. Stamens 8; filaments dilated below middle, base pubescent. Styles 3, very short; stigmas capitate. Achenes included in persistent perianth, black, slightly shiny, ovoid, trigonous, 3.5-4 mm, densely minutely granular. Fl. Jul-Aug, fr. Aug-Sep.

* Slopes, thickets in valleys; 900-3200 m. Gansu, Guizhou, Henan, Hubei, ?Hunan, Nei Mongol, Ningxia, Qinghai, Shaanxi, Shanxi, Sichuan, Xizang, Yunnan.

One of us (Park) notes that this could be conspecific with Fallopia baldschuanica (Regel) Holub (see Bailey & Stace, Pl. Syst. Evol. 180: 29–52. 1992).