圆苞马蓝 yuan bao ma lan

Goldfussia penstemonoides Nees in Wallich, Pl. Asiat. Rar. 3: 88. 1832 ["pentastemonoides"]; G. flexuosa Nees; Ruellia capitata Buchanan-Hamilton ex D. Don.

Herbs to 1 m tall, anisophyllous. Stems 4-angled, sulcate, subglabrous. Leaves subsessile; leaf blade elliptic to elliptic-lanceolate, 4-15 × 1-4 cm, abaxially glabrous but sometimes pubescent along veins, adaxially glabrous, secondary veins 5-7 on each side of midvein, base cuneate, margin serrulate, apex acute. Inflorescences terminal, abbreviated headlike spikes, simple or 3-furcately branched, sometimes with 1 or a few distant flowers; peduncle gland-tipped pilose; bracts orbicular, 6-9 mm in diam., unequal in size, soon scarious and caducous, glabrous; bracteoles absent. Calyx 0.5-1.2 cm, strongly accrescent in fruit, 5-lobed almost to base; lobes linear, unequal with one slightly longer than others, outside gland-tipped pilose. Corolla violet, ca. 3.5 cm, slightly curved, outside glabrous, inside glabrous except for trichomes retaining style; tube basally cylindric and ca. 2 mm wide for ca. 8 mm then gradually widened to ca. 1.2 cm at mouth; lobes ovate, ca. 4 × 4 mm. Stamens 4, included; filaments subglabrous, shorter pair ca. 4 mm and curved, longer pair 7-8 mm; anther thecae spherical, ca. 1.3 mm in diam., incurved; pollen type 3. Ovary pilose at tip; style ca. 2.8 cm, sparsely hirsute. Capsule clavate, ca. 1.2 cm, gland-tipped pubescent, 4-seeded. Seeds suborbicular in outline, ca. 2.5 mm in diam., pubescent. Fl. Aug-Nov, fr. Sep-Dec.

Mountain slopes; 2100-2300 m. SE Xizang, Yunnan [Bhutan, India, Nepal].