阔瓣茜草 kuo ban qian cao

Herbs, perennial, with ?rootstock; stems erect, to 20 cm tall, little branched, quadrangular, glabrous, smooth. Leaves in whorls of 4; petiole 0.8-1.8 cm; blade drying greenish, papery, ± broadly ovate, 1.5-3.5 × 1-3 cm, length/breadth index 1.2-1.5, glabrous except hispid on principal veins, base cordulate to cordate, apex acute; principal veins 3-5, palmate. Inflorescences thyrsoid, with terminal and sometimes axillary, 2-5-flowered and 0.5-1 cm long cymes; axes glabrous. Corolla green, turning blackish when dry, bell-shaped, fused part 1.5-2 mm; lobes triangular, ca. 1.5 mm. Mericarp berries unknown. Fl. Aug.

● Forest margins; ca. 3400 m. Sichuan (Barkam).

No authentic material of Rubia latipetala was available to us. From the description it belongs to R. ser. Chinenses. A completely glabrous and smooth specimen with larger, ovate-cordate leaves (to 5.5 × 3.5 cm) and petioles up to 3.5 cm (1800 m, 21 Jul 1988, PE - sheet no. 1847036) may belong here.