保亭叉柱花 bao ting cha zhu hua

Herbs 10-20 cm tall, annual. Stems erect, pubescent. Leaves cauline; petiole to 4 cm; leaf blade elliptic, elliptic-lanceolate, or rarely subovate, 2.5-6 × 1-2 cm, papery, abaxially green and glabrous, adaxially pale green and glabrous except slightly pubescent along midvein, secondary veins 6-9 on each side of midvein, base cuneate, margin entire, apex obtuse to rounded. Spikes borne on axillary brachyblasts, ca. 1 cm; peduncle and rachis pubescent; bracts elliptic to spatulate-elliptic, 6-7 × ca. 3.5 mm, abaxially pubescent, pinnately veined, apex obtuse; bracteoles linear-oblong, ca. 6 × 1 mm, abaxially pubescent, 1-veined, apex acute. Pedicel short or absent. Calyx ca. 1 cm, outside pubescent; lobes linear, 8-9 mm, unequal, margin ciliate. Corolla purple, ca. 9 mm, outside pubescent, inside pubescent at base; tube basally cylindric for ca. 2 mm; lobes suborbicular, 1.7-2 mm in diam., slightly unequal, apex rounded. Stamens with longer pair ca. 5 mm and shorter pair ca. 3 mm; filaments flattened, ciliate; anther thecae ca. 1 mm, base appendaged; staminode ca. 1 mm. Ovary oblong, glabrous; ovules ca. 24 in 2 rows per locule; style ca. 3 mm; stigma 2-lobed, lobes unequal with posterior one 2-dentate. Capsule ovoid-oblong, ca. 6 mm. Seeds orbicular, ca. 0.2 mm in diam. Fl. Dec.

● Wet places, paddy fields. Hainan (Baoting).