1. Arivela viscosa (Linnaeus) Rafinesque, Sylva Tellur. 110. 1838.
黄花草 huang hua cao
Herbs, annual, (10-)30-100(-160) cm tall. Stems simple or branched, ± glandular hirsute, viscous. Petiole 1.5-4.5(-8) cm, glandular hirsute; leaflets 3 or 5; leaflet blades ovate to oblanceolate-elliptic, (0.6-)2-6 × 0.5-3.5 cm, both surfaces glandular hirsute, margin entire to glandular ciliate, apex acute to obtuse. Inflorescences 5-10 cm but 10-15 cm in fruit; bracts 1-2.5 cm, palmately compound, 3-foliolate, often deciduous, glandular hirsute. Pedicel 0.6-3 cm, glandular hirsute. Inflorescences 3-6-flowered. Sepals green, equal, distinct, 5-10 × 0.8-1.2 mm, lanceolate, persistent, glandular hirsute, base cuneate, margin entire. Petals bright yellow, basally sometimes purple, arranged in an adaxial semicircle before anthesis but radially arranged at anthesis, 7-14 × 3-4 mm, oblong to ovate, clawed. Stamens (dimorphic, 4-10 adaxial ones much shorter with a swelling below anthers) green, 5-9 mm; anthers green, 1.4-3 mm. Pistil 6-10 mm, densely glandular; style 1-1.2[-8] mm; stigma capitate. Fruit lacking a gynophore; capsule 3-10 cm × 2-4 mm, strongly ridged longitudinally, dehiscing only partway from apex to base, glandular pubescent or essentially glabrous. Seeds 25-40[to ca. 100] per capsule, light brown, 1.2-1.8 × 1-1.2 mm, compressed spherical, transversely finely ridged. Fl. Jul-Sep, fr. Oct. 2n = 20, 34, 60.
Grassy slopes, wastelands, orchards, rice paddies; near sea level to 300 m. S Anhui, S Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan, E Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi, Taiwan, Yunnan, Zhejiang [Bhutan, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Japan (Ryukyu Islands), Laos, Malaysia, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam; tropical Africa, SW Asia, tropical Australia; naturalized in tropical America].
This species comprises three varieties, two of which occur in China and one of which occurs in India.
The seeds have a high oil content (ca. 26%) and are rich in linoleic acid; they are eaten in India. The leaves and seeds have been used medicinally in Asia (S China, India) and the Pacific islands (Guam) for the eyes and intestines and as a poultice for headaches and rheumatism (Chopra et al., Glossary Indian Medicinal Pl. 1956; Manandhar, Pl. People Nepal. 2002).
