红花远志 hong hua yuan zhi

Chamaebuxus paniculata Hasskarl; Polygala hasskarlii Merrill & Chun.

Shrubs scandent, 1.5-6 m tall. Petiole ca. 5 mm; leaf blade green, shiny, oblong, ovate-oblong, or elliptic-oblong, 6-8 × 2.5-3 cm, papery to subleathery, both surfaces glabrous, midvein raised abaxially, impressed adaxially, lateral veins 9 or 10 pairs, anastomosing near margin, reticulate veins evident, base gradually narrow to subrounded, margin entire, apex acuminate. Panicles terminal, large, branches explanate or drooping, pubescent, apical flowers dense. Pedicel ca. 3 mm. Flowers ca. 1.5 cm. Sepals 5, unequal, caducous after anthesis, ciliate; outer sepals 3, small, upper outer sepal saccate, (5-)7 mm, lateral sepals reniform, ca. 3 × 5 mm; inner sepals 2, purple-red, petaloid, elliptic, ca. 15 × 8 mm, much veined, apex acute. Petals 3, connate in lower 2/3, yellow; lateral petals obliquely oblong, ca. 1.1 cm, inside densely bunched villous at base, apex subtruncate, retuse; keel nearly equaling lateral petals, cucullate, apex with much-lobed, cristate, stalked appendage. Stamens 8; filaments ca. 1 cm, lower 3/5 united, forming an open staminal sheath, ciliate; anthers ovoid. Disk annular. Ovary ovoid, ca. 2 mm in diam., narrowly winged and ciliate; style ca. 8 mm, upward gradually thickened, apex shallowly 2-lobed, lobes differing in size; stigma adnate to lower lobe. Capsules broadly ellipsoidal or reniform, ca. 8 mm, ca. 1.4 cm in diam., broadly winged, prominently ribbed, apex slightly retuse, with a rostrate acumen; carpel suborbicular, thinly ribbed. Seeds black, globose, spur-shaped; strophiole helmet-shaped. Fl. Jul-Aug, fr. Aug-Sep.

Forests, margins of woods on mountain slopes; (300-)1300-1700 m. Guangxi, Hainan, SW Yunnan (Ruili) [India, Laos, Thailand, Vietnam].