蓼叶远志 liao ye yuan zhi

Polygala buchananii Buchanan-Hamilton ex D. Don, nom. illeg. superfl.; P. septemnervia Merrill; P. wallichiana Wight.

Herbs annual, 10-70 cm tall. Stems terete, mostly branched, crisped pubescent. Petiole short; leaf blade lanceolate to linear-lanceolate, 3-6.5 × 0.5-1.5 cm, thinly papery, both surfaces hispidulous or pubescent, midvein conspicuous, base cuneate, margin ciliate, apex obtuse. Racemes in fork and terminal on lateral branches, 2-9 cm. Pedicel 2.5-5 mm; bracts 3, persistent, unequal, lanceolate. Sepals 5, persistent, ciliate; outer sepals 3, unequal, median one boatlike, ca. 4 mm, narrowly winged on midvein, lateral ones ovate-elliptic, ca. 3 mm; inner sepals 2, petaloid, broadly obovate or orbicular, ca. 6 mm in diam., 5-veined, anastomosing, base unguiculate. Petals 3, connate in lower 1/2, pink to purple; lateral petals ± obliquely rhombic, inside hairy at base; keel cucullate, ciliate, apex with 2 bundles of linear appendages. Stamens 8, lower 1/2-3/4 united forming an open staminal sheath adnate with petals, split in upper 1/4-1/2 into 8 free filaments; anthers ovoid. Ovary obovoid, ciliate; style curved; stigmas 2, slightly spaced, one apical, other lateral, sessile. Capsule oblong or orbicular, ca. 5 mm, narrowly winged, ciliate. Seeds black, oblong, slightly compressed, ca. 4 mm, white villous; strophiole cucullate, shallowly 3-lobed. Fl. Jul-Sep, fr. Aug-Oct.

Forests, grasslands, roadsides on slopes of hills; 1200-2200(-2800) m. Guangxi, Guizhou, Sichuan, Yunnan [Bhutan, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, New Guinea, Philippines, Thailand; Africa].