微小拉拉藤 wei xiao la la teng

Herbs, perennial (not annual), ascending, caespitose, minute, 2-3 cm tall. Stems 4-angled, branched, glabrous or sometimes hispidulous at nodes. Leaves in whorls of 4; blade rhombic-oblong, 2-3 × 0.8-1 mm, glabrous or abaxially hispidulous along midrib, base attenuate, apex obtuse; vein 1. Inflorescence with terminal and partly axillary few-flowered cymes, glabrous axes, and ca. 2 mm long pedicels. Flowers unknown. Mericarps reniform, sparsely hispid with apically weakly curved trichomes.

● Mountains; 1800-2400 m. Taiwan (Hualian).

Galium minutissimum was accepted as a species by W. C. Chen (in FRPS 71(2): 283. 1999) but was not treated or mentioned by Yang and Li in their publication on Galium in Taiwan (Bull. Natl. Mus. Nat. Sci., Taichung 11: 101-117. 1998) or in the subsequent second edition of Fl. Taiwan (4: 254-259. 1998). We have seen no authentic material, and the specific status of G. minutissimum remains uncertain. The taxon obviously belongs to G. sect. Platygalium and the closely related G. morii group (see there) from the high mountains of Taiwan.