大叶冷水花 da ye leng shui hua

Boehmeria martini H. Léveillé, Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. 11: 551. 1913.

Herbs perennial, stoloniferous, often dioecious. Stems simple or branched, 30-100 cm tall, succulent, with galls on mid portion of internodes, glabrous or puberulent on upper part. Stipules semipersistent, oblong-lanceolate, 4-8 mm, membranous, veinless; petioles unequal in length, 1-8 cm, puberulent or glabrous; leaf blade abaxially pale green, adaxially green, obliquely ovate, narrowly ovate, or lanceolate, unequal in size, 7-20 × 3.5-12 cm, membranous, 3-veined, lateral veins many, subtransverse, abaxial surface glabrous or puberulent when young, adaxial surface sparsely setulose, base rounded or subcordate, rarely obtuse, margin coarsely serrate-dentate, apex long acuminate, acumen serrulate. Inflorescences solitary; male inflorescence a cymose panicle, 4-10 cm overall, peduncle 2-6 cm; female cymose panicles or cymose racemes, 1-4 cm. shortly pedunculate. Male flowers reddish, sessile or pedicellate, in bud ca. 1.2 mm; perianth lobes 4, oblong-ovate, 2 lobes subapically corniculate; stamens 4; rudimentary ovary small, conic. Female flowers subsessile, in bud ca. 0.6 mm; perianth lobes connate at base, unequal, abaxial lobe cymbiform, longer, subapically corniculate; staminodes 3, scale-like, oblong. Achene brownish green, narrowly ovoid, ca. 1 mm, compressed, oblique, smooth. Fl. May-Sep, fr. Aug-Oct.

Shaded wet places along ditches, streams, near streams; 1100-3500 m. S Gansu, N Guangxi, Guizhou, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi, S Shaanxi, E Sichuan, S Xizang, Yunnan [Bhutan, Nepal, Sikkim].

This species occurs widely in W China and is very common in shady and wet places of the forest understory. It resembles Pilea semisessilis, P. symmeria, and P. umbrosa.