日本马蓝 ri ben ma lan

Ruellia japonica Thunberg in Murray, Syst. Veg., ed. 14, 576. 1784; Acanthopale japonica (Thunberg) C. B. Clarke ex S. Moore; Championella japonica (Thunberg) Bremekamp; Strobilanthes bonatiana H. Léveillé.

Herbs 20-50 cm tall, isophyllous. Stems slender, herbaceous, much branched; branchlets purplish red, 4-angled then terete, glabrous. Petiole 2-5 cm, white pubescent; leaf blade narrowly elliptic to lanceolate, 2-5 × 0.5-1.8 cm, both surfaces glabrous and densely covered with prominent linear cystoliths, secondary veins 3-5 on each side of midvein, base cuneate to broadly cuneate, margin crenulate, apex long acuminate. Inflorescences terminal, spikes, 1-3(-5) cm, sometimes reduced to a single flower pair; bracts imbricate, oblanceolate to oblong-lanceolate, 7-10 × 2-3 mm, as long as corolla tube, glabrous except for pubescence at base, apically densely covered with cystoliths, margin entire, apex obtuse; bracteoles linear, ca. 5 mm. Calyx equally 5-lobed almost to base; lobes linear, 6-7 mm, margin ciliate, apex rounded. Corolla purplish white or white, funnel-shaped, ca. 1.5 cm, straight, outside pubescent, inside glabrous except for trichomes retaining style; tube basally cylindric for 5-6 mm; lobes oblong-elliptic, 5-6 mm, equal. Stamens 4, included; shorter filament pair ca. 8 mm; longer filament pair ca. 1.2 cm; anther thecae oblong, ca. 1.5 mm; pollen type 10. Ovary glabrous; style filiform, ca. 1.2 cm, pilose; stigma 2-cleft. Capsule oblong, ca. 7 mm, presumably glabrous, 4-seeded. Seeds ovate in outline, ca. 3 mm, densely appressed pubescent. Fl. Aug-Sep, fr. Oct-Nov. 2n = 30.

Often near temples and religious sites; 500-1100 m. Chongqing, Guizhou, Hubei, Hunan, Sichuan [Japan].

Strobilanthes japonica differs from S. tetrasperma in its lanceolate leaves and glabrous ovary. We have seen two collections intermediate between these two species (Yu Xunlin 91690 from Hunan and Exped. To Flora of Yunnan, Guizhou and Guangxi 50124 from Guizhou).

"Dyschoriste grandiflora H. S. Lo" (C. C. Hu, FRPS 70: 79. 2002) belongs here but is a nomen nudum and was therefore not validly published (Vienna Code, Art. 32.1(d)).