肉茎蛇根草 rou jing she gen cao

Herbs, apparently ascending; stems stout, subglabrous. Leaves in subequal pairs; petiole 1.5-7 cm, subglabrous; blade drying thickly papery, brownish yellow with veins dark brown abaxially, broadly ovate or broadly elliptic, 11-16 × 5.5-10 cm, glabrous on both surfaces, base subrounded, decurrent, ± inequilateral, margins entire, apex cuspidate; secondary veins 7 or 8 pairs; stipules caducous, not seen. Inflorescence slightly sparse, many flowered, pubescent; peduncle ca. 3 cm; axes helicoid, 2-3 cm; bracteoles subulate-ensiform, 2-3 mm, costate, obtuse. Flowers distylous, subsessile. Calyx pilosulous; hypanthium turbinate, 1.5-2 mm, 10-ribbed; lobes triangular, 0.6-0.7 mm, usually with 1 gland in each sinus. Corolla pale purple, subtubular, glabrous outside; tube ca. 14 mm, pilose in basal portion inside; lobes ovate-triangular, ca. 2 mm, dorsally with very short horn, apex rostrate. Capsules dark purple, mitriform, ca. 5 × 12 mm, pilosulous. Fl. Jun-Jul.

● Wet places in forests. Yunnan (Hekou).

The protologue described the flowers as distylous but noted that long-styled flowers had not been seen; the putative short-styled flowers were described as having the anthers positioned just below the throat and the stigmas in the lower part of the corolla tube. The protologue figure was reproduced but not exactly by FRPS (71(1): 159, t. 40, f. 1-6. 1999); in particular, the protologue figure shows the calyx as pilosulous and the corollas as pilose internally in the basal portion, but the FRPS figure depicts the calyx and the corollas as glabrous.