金花远志 jin hua yuan zhi

Polygala aurata Gagnepain; P. aurata var. macrostachya Gagnepain.

Herbs perennial, prostrate, 5-40 cm tall. Stems multibranched, erect, procumbent, or ascending, appressed pubescent. Petiole ca. 1 mm; leaf blade linear or linear-lanceolate, 10-20(-27) × 2.5-3 mm, membranous, 1-veined, both surfaces glabrous or sparsely hairy, base attenuate, margin entire, apex shortly acute. Racemes opposite to leaves or supra-axillary, 1-3 cm, rather few flowered; rachis filiform, 1-3 cm. Pedicel ca. 1.5 mm; basal bracteoles 2, caducous, lanceolate. Flowers 3.5-4.5 mm. Sepals 5, persistent, green, ciliate; outer sepals 3, ovate- lanceolate, ca. 2 mm, apex acuminate; inner sepals 2, obovate to falcate, ca. 3 mm, apex acute, aristate, ciliate. Petals 3, connate at base, yellow; lateral petals broadly obovate, ca. 2 mm; keel cucullate, nearly as long as or slightly shorter than lateral petals, apex with 2 fascicled appendages, each fascicle deeply lobed at apex. Stamens 8, lower 2/3 united, forming an open staminal ciliate sheath and split in upper 1/3 into 8 free filaments; anthers ovoid. Ovary obovoid, ca. 1 mm, winged, ciliate; style curved, apex hooklike; stigma in hook. Capsule obovoid-ellipsoidal, ca. 3 mm, ca. 2.5 mm in diam., narrowly winged, ciliate, apex notched. Seeds black, ovoid, ca. 3 mm, white pubescent; strophiole ± cucullate, 3-lobed, lobes membranous. Fl. and fr. unknown.

Grasslands in open country. Hainan (Baoting, Lingshui, Wanning) [Cambodia, N India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, New Guinea, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand; Australia].

Polygala brachystachya Blume (1825, not Candolle, 1824, nor P. brachistachyos Poiret, 1816; P. chinensis Linnaeus var. brachystachya Bennett) and P. linarifolia Willdenow (P. chinensis var. linarifolia (Willdenow) Chodat) are synonyms of P. glaucoides Linnaeus, which can be easily and reliably separated from P. triflora only on the basis of the marginal hairs on the capsule: in P. triflora they are stiff and erect (clearly ciliate), whereas in P. glaucoides they are short and curved/ crisped.