7. Vernonia elliptica Candolle in Wight, Contr. Bot. India. 5. 1834.
光耀藤 guang yao teng
Strobocalyx elliptica (Candolle) Schultz Bipontinus; Tarlmounia elliptica (Candolle) H. Robinson et al.
Scandent shrubs. Stems striate, all parts gray sericeous, hairs T-shaped. Petiole curved, ca. 2 mm; leaf blade elliptic-oblong, 2-6.5(-10) × 1-4(-6) cm, abaxially densely sericeous, adaxially sericeous on main veins, glabrous to thinly hairy between, lateral veins ca. 7-paired, base cuneate to rounded, margins entire, apex subacute. Synflorescences terminal and subterminal, panicles elongated, thyrselike. Capitula clustered at tips of branches. Involucre tubular, 3-4 × 1.5-2.5 mm; phyllaries ca. 4-seriate, tinged purple at tip, outer suborbicular, adpressed sericeous, apex rounded, inner oblong-elliptic. Florets 5; corolla pale pink, 5-6 mm, sparsely glandular, lobes ca. 2 mm. Achenes pale brown, cylindric-clavate, 1.8-2.2 mm, 5-angled, densely and minutely glandular. Pappus tawny-white; inner setae 4-5.5 mm, scabrid.
Occasionally cultivated, locally escaped and naturalized. S Taiwan [native to India, Myanmar, and Thailand].
This species is cultivated in Hong Kong.