中越孩儿草 zhong yue hai er cao

Justicia monetaria Benoist, Bull. Soc. Bot. France 81: 605. 1934.

Herbs to 1.5 tall, perennial. Stems sulcate, glabrescent. Petiole 1-2.5 cm; leaf blade elliptic to ovate-elliptic, 6-17 × 3-8.5 cm, both surfaces densely covered with prominent cystoliths and glabrous, secondary veins 4-7 on each side of midvein, base cuneate and to decurrent and asymmetric or symmetric, margin entire, apex acute to acuminate. Spikes terminal or borne from leafless lateral branches, (2-)5-8(-19) cm; peduncle ca. 1 cm, glabrous; rachis glabrous; bracts 4-ranked; sterile bracts yellowish green, circular, rhombic, or obovate, 1.2-1.6 × 1.1-1.6 cm, glabrous, base rounded to cuneate, margin entire or apically serrate, apex rounded to acute; fertile bracts yellowish brown, sphenoid, 1.2-1.4 × 0.8-1.1 cm, glabrous, base cuneate, margin entire, apex rounded; bracteoles yellowish brown, narrowly lanceolate, 9-11 × ca. 2 mm, membranous, abaxially glabrous, margin ciliate. Calyx yellowish brown, 6-7 mm, glabrous, 5-lobed almost to base; lobes 5-6 × ca. 1 mm. Corolla white with purple dotted stripe in throat, ca. 1.5 cm; tube ca. 6 × 3 mm; lower lip oblong, ca. 7 × 6 mm, 3-lobed, middle lobe ca. 3 × 2 mm, lateral lobes ca. 2 × 1 mm; upper lip triangular, ca. 5 × 6 mm, apex emarginate. Stamens 2, inserted at base of throat; filaments ca. 3 mm, glabrous; anther thecae ovoid. Ovary ca. 1.5 × 1 mm, glabrous; style ca. 8 mm, glabrous. Capsule obovoid-ellipsoid, ca. 10 × 3 mm, glabrous, 2-seeded. Seeds orbicular in outline, ca. 3 mm in diam., glabrous. Fl. Sep-Oct, fr. Nov-Jan.

Streamsides; 300-900 m. Yunnan [Vietnam].