桂越马蓝 gui yue ma lan

Shrubs of unknown size, strongly anisophyllous. Stems zigzag, glabrous. Petiole 2-5 mm; leaf blade ovate-elliptic, smaller of each pair deciduous, larger one 7-15 × 4-7 cm, glabrous, secondary veins 4 or 5 on each side of midvein, base cuneate, margin sinuate-dentate, apex acute. Inflorescences axillary or terminal, spikes 3-13 cm, fertile apically only; bracts oblanceolate to obovate, ca. 2 × 1 mm, sparsely gland-tipped pilose, ± persistent, apex obtuse to rounded; bracteoles linear-oblanceolate, ca. 5 mm, sparsely gland-tipped pilose. Flowers 2 or 3 per spike, 1-1.4 cm apart, one fertile at each node alternately. Calyx 7-10 mm; lobes linear, 7-9 × ca. 1 mm, subequal, glabrous or becoming sparsely gland-tipped pilose, apex obtuse. Corolla purplish blue or white, ca. 3.2 cm, outside densely pubescent in bud, inside glabrous except for trichomes retaining style; tube basally cylindric and ca. 2 mm wide for ca. 8 mm then ventricose and gradually widened to ca. 1.3 cm at mouth; lobes oblong, ca. 4 × 6 mm. Stamens 4, included; filaments of shorter stamen pair ca. 2 mm and glabrous, longer pair ca. 5 mm and sparsely hirsute; anther thecae oblong ca. 2 mm; pollen type 1. Ovary glabrous; style ca. 3 cm, sparsely hirsute. Capsule fusiform, 1.2-1.3 cm, glabrous, 4-seeded. Seeds ovate in outline, ca. 3 mm, appressed pubescent. Fr. Dec.

Forests in limestone hills; 600-1500 m. Guangxi [Vietnam].

Strobilanthes bantonensis is a little-known species with very distinct pollen.