枪刀菜 qiang dao cai

Peristrophe cumingiana Nees in A. Candolle, Prodr. 11: 498. 1847.

Herbs to 1 m tall, suffrutescent. Stems subterete, ascending to decumbent, distally minutely pubescent. Petiole to 2 cm; leaf blade ovate-oblong to linear-lanceolate, 4-14 × 1-4 cm, both surfaces glabrous, secondary veins 3-6 on each side of midvein, base truncate to cuneate, margin slightly undulate, apex acuminate to acute. Panicles terminal or axillary, to 40 cm, lax; branches of panicle usually subtended by subleaflike inflorescence bracts; floral bracts lanceolate, ca. 4.5 × 1 mm; bracteoles lanceolate-subulate to linear, outer pair 2.5-4 mm, puberulent, inner pair smaller. Flowers single or paired, crowded at tips of branches. Calyx 5-lobed nearly to base, lobes subulate, outside puberulent with non-glandular and gland-tipped trichomes. Corolla white to light purple with darker purple markings, 1.6-2 cm, outside puberulent; tube basally cylindrical and ca. 1 mm wide for 5-8 mm; lip in lower position elliptic, 8-1.2 × 7-8 mm, apex rounded; lip in upper position ca. 10 × 4 mm. Staminal filaments ca. 8 mm. Style 1.4-2 cm, sparsely strigose; stigma 2-lobed. Capsule oblong-ovoid, ca. 1.3 cm, densely puberulent. Seeds blackish brown, ovate in outline, ca. 3 × 3 mm, verrucose. Fl. Nov-Mar, fr. Mar-Jun.

Trailside slopes, along streams; 100-500 m. Taiwan [Philippines].