大叶猪殃殃(原变种) da ye zhu yang yang (yuan bian zhong)

Galium asprellum Michaux var. dahuricum (Turczaninow ex Ledebour) Maximowicz; G. comarii H. Léveillé & Vaniot; G. dahuricum var. leiocarpum Nakai; G. niewerthii Franchet & Savatier.

Stems and nodes often ± glabrescent. Leaf blade with margins ± retrorsely aculeolate. Inflorescences lax; peduncles and pedicels strongly elongated. Ovary and mericarps glabrous or tuberculate. Fl. Jun-Jul, fr. Aug-Oct.

Forests, grasslands; 700-1000 m. Fujian, Guizhou, Hebei, Heilongjiang, Hubei, Hunan, Jilin, Liaoning, Nei Mongol, Sichuan, Xinjiang, Yunnan [Korea, Russia].

This variety was listed as Galium niewerthii for the Flora of Japan (Yamazaki, loc. cit.: 238). Forms with many-flowered inflorescences, somewhat shorter pedicels, and glabrous ovaries and fruit have been seen from Yunnan; they apparently tend toward G. asperifolium and/or G. prattii. Galium taiwanense (see there) is very close to G. dahuricum var. dahuricum and evidently replaces it on Taiwan.