川八角莲 chuan ba jiao lian

Podophyllum delavayi Franchet, Bull. Mus. Hist. Nat. (Paris) 1: 63. 1895; Dysosma veitchii (Hemsley & E. H. Wilson) L. K. Fu ex T. S. Ying; D. veitchii var. longipetala J. L. Wu & P. Zhuang; P. delavayi var. longipetalum J. M. H. Shaw; P. veitchii Hemsley & E. H. Wilson.

Plants 20-50 cm tall. Rhizomes creeping, short, stout, fibrous roots slightly stout. Leaves opposite; petiole white, 7-10 cm, pubescent; leaf blade abaxially pale yellowish green or dark purplish red, adaxially dark green, sometimes purplish green, suborbicular in gross outline, to 22 cm in diam., papery, abaxially venation pubescent, often ultimately glabrous, adax-ially glabrous, 4- or 5-parted to ca. midway; lobes cuneate-oblong, apex 3-lobed, lobules subtriangular, margin scarcely spinulose-subserrulate, apex acuminate. Inflorescence 2-6-fascicled flowers, rarely umbellate. Pedicel nutant, 1.5-2.5 cm, densely white pubescent. Flowers large, attached at base of petiole, dark purplish red. Sepals caducous, oblong-obovate, ca. 2 cm, outside pubescent. Petals purplish red, oblong, 4-6 cm, apex rounded, obtuse. Stamens ca. 3 cm; filaments flat, shorter than anthers; anther connective conspicuously prolonged, to 9 mm. Pistils short, only ca. 1/2 as long as stamens; ovary ellipsoid; stigma large, rugosely undulate. Berry scarlet when mature, obovoid-ellipsoid, 3-5 × 3-3.5 cm. Seeds numerous, white. Fl. Apr-May, fr. Jun-Sep. 2n = 12*.

● Forests, streamsides, shaded wet places; 1200-2500 m. Guizhou, Sichuan, Yunnan.

Shaw (in Stearn, Gen. Epimedium, 294-295. 2002) reported Podophyllum delavayi from S Shaanxi and recognized two varieties of the species: var. delavayi ("petals 3.5-7 cm long, 3-5 mm wide") and var. longipetalum ("petals 8-10 cm long, ca. 9 mm wide").