薄萼马蓝 bao e ma lan

Herbs to 50 cm tall, perennial, isophyllous. Stems 4-angled, sulcate, glabrous. Petiole 1-2.5 cm, glabrous; leaf blade lanceolate to ovate-lanceolate, 2-6 × 1-2.5 cm, abaxially glabrous and paler, adaxially with a few scattered trichomes and abundant cystoliths, secondary veins 4-6 on each side of midvein, base cuneate and decurrent onto petiole, margin crenulate, apex acuminate. Inflorescences axillary, subcapitate, 1-2 cm, 2-4-flowered; peduncle 0-2 cm; bracts leaflike, ovate, 6-9 × 3-5 mm, persistent, glabrous, margin subentire, apex acute; bracteoles linear, 5-6 × ca. 2 mm, glabrous. Calyx 8-10 mm, 5-lobed almost to base; lobes ovate-elliptic, 6-10 × 3-5 mm, unequal with one larger than others, outside sparsely pilose, apex obtuse. Corolla pale blue, ca. 3.2 cm, slightly curved, outside glabrous, inside glabrous except for trichomes retaining style; tube basally cylindric and ca. 2 mm wide for ca. 8 mm then gradually widened to ca. 1 cm at mouth; lobes ovate, ca. 4 × 3 mm. Stamens 4; filaments glabrous, shorter pair ca. 4 mm, longer pair ca. 8 mm; anther thecae oblong, ca. 2 × 1.2 mm, erect; pollen type 3. Ovary glabrous; style ca. 2.7 cm, glabrous. Capsule not seen.

● Forests. Hubei (Xingshan).

Strobilanthes latisepala is only known from the type and is possibly conspecific with the very variable S. atropurpurea, from which it can be distinguished by its distinctive broad sepals.