合页草 he ye cao

Subshrubs 0.5-3 m tall, branched, slightly anisophyllous. Stems 4-angled, bifariously pilose, apically glabrescent. Petiole 0.5-2 cm, pubescent; leaf blade ovate, 5-12 × 1.5-5 cm, both surfaces pubescent, abaxially slightly paler, secondary veins 5-8 on each side of midvein, base long attenuate, margin crenate to serrate, apex acute to acuminate and slightly falcate. Inflorescences axillary, dense headlike spikes, borne on a short usually simple or (2 or)3-furcate peduncle; peduncle 1-3 cm, pilose; rachis sparsely pilose; outer sterile bracts leaflike, lanceolate to narrowly oblong-elliptic, 1.3-2.7 × 0.3-0.8 cm, pubescent, margin dentate; floral bracts ovate, ovate-elliptic, or subrhomboidal, 7-10 × 2-4 mm, persistent, abaxially ciliate with long non-glandular white trichomes and scattered shorter white trichomes, apex obtuse; bracteoles linear-oblanceolate, 4-8 × 1.5-2 mm, persistent, margin ciliate with long white trichomes and sometimes stalked glands at apex, apex obtuse to acute. Calyx outside densely pilose with scattered long white trichomes mixed with numerous gland-tipped trichomes, inside glabrous, subequally 5-lobed to base, not accrescent; lobes narrowly oblong to lanceolate, 7-9 × ca. 1.5 mm, apex acute. Corolla purple, blue, or rose, 3.5-4.2 cm, straight, outside pilose, inside glabrous except for trichomes retaining style; tube basally cylindric and 1.5-2 mm wide for ca. 8 mm then ventricose and widened to ca. 1.2 cm at mouth; lobes broadly ovate, ca. 7 × 6 mm, apex rounded. Stamens 4, included; shorter filament pair 1.5-3.5 mm, glabrous; longer filament pair 6-8 mm, pilose; anther thecae shortly ellipsoid, ca. 1.2 mm, incurved; pollen type 3. Ovary apically gland-tipped pilose; style 1.7-1.9 mm, sparsely pilose. Capsule oblong, ca. 1 cm, gland-tipped pilose, 4-seeded. Seeds ca. 3 × 1.8 mm, pubescent. Fl. Mar, Jul, Nov.

● Evergreen broad-leaved forests by streams; 1500-2800 m. Xizang (Mêdog, Zayü), Yunnan (Fugong).

Strobilanthes kingdonii was mistakenly treated as Sympagis monadelpha (Nees) Bremekamp by C. C. Hu (FRPS 70: 176. 2002) and C. C. Hu and X. P. Fu (Higher Pl. China 10: 378. 2004) and also as Sympagis petiolaris (Nees) Bremekamp by C. C. Hu (FRPS 70: 178. 2002).