秋海棠 qiu hai tang

Herbs, deciduous. Tubers subglobose, 8-12 mm in diam. Stems 28-60 cm tall, subglabrous. Leaves cauline; stipules caducous, oblong to lanceolate, ca. 10 × 2-4 mm, membranous, margin entire, apex acuminate; petiole 4-20 cm, subglabrous; blade broadly ovate, asymmetric, 10-20 × 7-14 cm, venation palmate, 7(-9)-veined, base obliquely cordate, margin irregularly serrulate, apex acuminate to long acuminate. Inflorescences terminal and axillary, 7-16 cm tall, glabrous, terminal inflorescence racemose at base, axillary inflorescence cymose; bracts caducous, oblate to oblong, 5-13 × 2-17 mm, margin entire, apex obtuse. Staminate flowers: pedicel 0.8-2.2 cm; tepals 4, white to pink, glabrous, outer 2 broadly ovate or suborbicular, 1.1-1.7 × 1-1.7 cm, inner 2 obovate to obovate-oblong, 7-11 × 3-9 mm; stamens 28-140; filaments to 6.1 mm; anthers obovoid, 0.8-1.1 mm, apex emarginate. Pistillate flowers: pedicel 2.5-5 cm; tepals 3, white to pink, glabrous; outer 2 suborbicular or oblate-orbicular, ca. 1.2 × 1.2 cm, inner 1 obovate, ca. 8 × 6 mm; ovary glabrous, 3-loculed; placentae axile, bilamellate; styles fused at base or free; stigmas 2-cleft or U-shaped, spiraled or not. Capsule pendulous, oblong, 10-12 × ca. 7 mm, unequally 3-winged; abaxial wing oblong or triangularly oblong, ca. 1.8 cm; lateral wings narrowly triangular, or all wings narrowly triangular. Fl. Jul, fr. Aug. 2n = 26*.

● Forests, evergreen broad-leaved forests on montane slopes, streamsides in dense valley forests, moist rocky cliffs of valleys, wet fissures of limestone rocks, on rocks in shaded moist environments, on slopes, in valleys, or by streams; 100-3400 m. Anhui, Fujian, S Gansu, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hebei, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi, Shaanxi, Shandong, Shanxi, Sichuan, Yunnan, Zhejiang.