野靛棵 ye dian ke

Mananthes patentiflora (Hemsley) Bremekamp.

Herbs to 2 m tall, perennial. Stems subterete, glabrous. Petiole 2-6 cm; leaf blade ovate to oblong-lanceolate, 16-26 × 7.5-9.5 cm, membranous, glabrous, secondary veins 8 or 9 each side, blade basally attenuate to a narrowly cuneate base, apex acuminate. Spikes terminal or axillary in upper leaf axils, 5-12 cm, unbranched or bifurcately branched; rachis 4-angled, bifariously yellowish pubescent, with 1 flower per node; bracts scalelike, triangular-lanceolate, ca. 3 mm, abaxially puberulent; bracteoles similar to bracts. Calyx ca. 1.2 cm, puberulent, 5-lobed almost to base; lobes linear, apex acute. Corolla purplish red with purplish spots, 1.5-2 cm; tube 1-1.5 cm, abruptly recurved above base, outside puberulent; lower lip 3-lobed, lobes circular; upper lip subcircular, shorter than lower lip, apex emarginate. Staminal filaments ca. 5 mm, glabrous; anther thecae superposed, lower one spurred at base. Ovary glabrous; style ca. 7 mm, basal portion sparsely puberulent. Capsule narrowly obovoid, ca. 1.5 cm. Seeds light yellow, circular in outline, ca. 1.2 × 1.2 mm, verrucose. Fl. Nov-Jan, fr. Apr-May.

Forests, streamsides, limestone hills; 500-1800(-2400) m. Yunnan [Vietnam].

"Mananthes tubiflora" (Y. M. Shui & W. H. Chen, Seed Pl. Karst Reg. China 1: 182. 2006) belongs here but was not validly published.