生根冷水花 sheng gen leng shui hua

Herbs perennial, stoloniferous, glabrous, monoecious or dioecious. Stems much branched, 20-30 cm tall, succulent distally, with galls on mid portion of internodes. Stipules persistent, triangular, 1-2 mm, membranous; petiole unequal in length, 0.5-3 cm; leaf blade abaxially pale green, adaxially green, ovate or lanceolate, unequal in size, 2-6.5 × 1.5-2.5 cm, membranous, 3-veined, lateral veins many, with cystoliths, base rounded or emarginate, margin serrate, apex acuminate. Inflorescences solitary; male inflorescence a cymose panicle, often longer than subtending leaf, pedunculate; female cymes much shorter than male ones. Male flowers pedicellate, in bud obovoid, ca. 1.5 mm; perianth lobes 4, connate 1/2 of length, subapically conspicuously corniculate or beaked; stamens 4; rudimentary ovary small. Female flowers subsessile, in bud ca. 0.5 mm; perianth lobes connate at base, unequal, abaxial lobe cymbiform, longer, subapically corniculate; staminodes 3, scale-like, oblong. Achene brownish, obliquely ovoid, ca. 1 mm, compressed, smooth. Fl. Jun-Jul, fr. Aug-Sep.

Roadsides, wet places in broad-leaved forests; 300-1200 m. Guangdong, Guangxi [S India, Sri Lanka].