毛花点草 mao hua dian cao

Nanocnide pilosa Migo.

Herbs perennial. Stems purplish basally, diffuse, often branched basally, 17-45 cm tall, somewhat succulent, retrorsely hirsute. Stipules ovate, ca. 1 mm, ciliate; petiole 0.8-1.8 cm, retrorsely hirsute; leaf blade broadly ovate, triangular-ovate, or subflabellate, 1.5-2 × 1.3-1.8 cm, proximal leaves small, sub-flabellate, 3-5-veined, secondary and final veins dichotomously branched, adaxial surface greenish, sparsely covered with short, stinging and puberulent hairs, abaxial surface light green, sometimes lustrous, densely puberulent on veins, base truncate or shallowly cordate, uppermost subtruncate or broadly cuneate, margin unequally 4-5(-7)-crenate or incised-dentate, teeth triangular-ovate, with obtuse or acute tip, 2-5 mm, apex obtuse or acute; cystoliths botuliform, conspicuous on both surfaces. Male cymes in distal axils, many times dichotomously branched, 5-12 mm, never longer than leaves, shortly pedunculate, retrorsely hirsute on axes, sometimes clusters of several flowers below female ones. Female inflorescences in clusters, borne in distal axils or in proximal leafless nodes, or sometimes distal part of main twigs, 3-7 mm in diam. Male flowers light greenish, pedicellate, in bud 2-3 mm; perianth lobes (4 or)5, ovate, ca. 1.5 mm, setulose below apex; stamens (4 or)5; rudimentary ovary broadly obovoid, ca. 0.5 mm. Female flowers greenish, ca. 1.5 mm; perianth lobes 4, unequal, outer 2 larger, boat-shaped, keeled, ca. 1 mm, densely covered with short stinging hairs along keel and margin, inner 2 narrowly ovate, ca. 1 mm. Achene ovoid, compressed, ca. 1 mm, verrucose. Fl. Apr-Jun, fr. Jun-Aug.

Shady, moist places in forests, grasslands, rock crevices, along streams; near sea level-1400 m. Anhui, Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Sichuan, Taiwan, E Yunnan, Zhejiang [Vietnam].

The plants are used as febrifugal medicines.