南岭爵床 nan ling jue chuang

Mananthes leptostachya (Hemsley) H. S. Lo.

Herbs 40-60 cm tall. Stems 4-angled, sulcate, bifariously pubescent. Petiole 1-2 cm; leaf blade ovate-lanceolate, 10.5-12.5(-18) × 5-6.5(-8) cm, papery, abaxially strigose along veins, adaxially sparsely strigose, secondary veins 5-9 on each side of midvein, base broadly cuneate, margin entire or slightly undulate, apex acuminate. Spikes terminal, 3-6 cm, branched or rarely unbranched; rachis hispid, with several flowers per node; bracts linear, ca. 2 × 0.8 mm, abaxially puberulent; bracteoles similar to bracts. Calyx ca. 3 mm, outside puberulent, 5-lobed almost to base; lobes narrowly lanceolate to linear, apex acute. Corolla ca. 6 mm, outside pubescent; lower lip patent, 3-lobed, lobes ovate and apex rounded; upper lip oblong, apex emarginate. Staminal filaments ca. 3 mm, glabrous; anther thecae superposed, lower one spurred at base. Ovary glabrous; style filiform, glabrous. Capsule clavate, ca. 1.2 cm, puberulent, 4-seeded. Seeds dark brown, ovate in outline, ca. 1 × 1 mm, slightly muricate. Fl. Mar-Jun, fr. Jul-Aug.

● On rocks. Guangdong, Guangxi, Hunan.

Specimens misidentified as Mananthes vasculosa (Nees) Bremekamp by C. C. Hu (FRPS 70: 298. 2002) belong here.