思茅远志 si mao yuan zhi

Herbs annual, erect, 10-24 cm tall. Stem and branches glabrous, longitudinally angular; branches stout. Petiole 5-10 mm; leaf blade abaxially greenish, adaxially green, ovate, 2-4(-5) × 1-2.5 cm, papery, abaxially glabrous, adaxially sparsely white hispidulous, midvein raised on both surfaces, lateral veins evident, anastomosing near margin, base cuneate, decurrent, margin ciliate, apex acuminate, bony mucronate. Racemes axillary, ca. 2 cm, to 6-12 cm at fruiting; peduncles longitudinally angular; bracteoles caducous. Sepals 5; outer sepals 3, ovate or deltoid-ovate, ca. 1.5 × 1 mm; inner sepals 2, petaloid, oblong, ca. 3 × 2 mm, base unguiculate, apex rounded. Petals 3, connate in lower 3/4, yellow; lateral petals longer than keel, oblong; keel 2-lamellate, apex lobed or not, with crested appendages. Stamens 8; filaments lower 3/4 united into an open sheath; anthers ovoid. Ovary obovoid, ca. 1 mm in diam.; style from base toward apex gradually broadened, curved, funnelform; stigma in lower margin of funnel. Capsule globose or subsquare, ca. 3 mm in diam., winged, apex truncate or retuse, mucronate, wing gradually broadened from base to apex and with transverse veins. Seeds ellipsoidal, ca. 1.5 mm, ca. 1 mm in diam., tuberculate, glabrous, strophiole discoid, other end of seed with a small black shiny appendage. Fl. and fr. Sep-Oct.

Shrub forests on rocky hills; 1000-1700 m. S Yunnan [Myanmar, Thailand].

A similar species Polygala cardiocarpa has been mistakenly confused with this one, but it does not occur in China.