Columnea chinensis Osbeck, Dagb. Ostind. Resa 230. 1757; Limnophila chevalieri Bonati; L. hirsuta (Heyne ex Bentham) Bentham; Stemodia hirsuta Heyne ex Bentham.

Herbs, 5-50 cm tall. Stems basally prostrate, rooting from nodes, simple or basally branched, villous to subglabrous. Leaves opposite or in whorls of 3 or 4, sessile, ovate-lanceolate, linear-lanceolate, or rarely spatulate, 0.5-5.3 X 0.2-1.5 cm, abaxially villous along veins, adaxially glabrous or sparsely villous, base subamplexicaul, margin serrate; veins pinnate, inconspicuous. Flowers solitary in leaf axils, or in terminal panicles. Pedicel 3-5 mm, villous to subglabrous. Bracteoles ca. 2 mm. Calyx 5-7 mm, villous to subglabrous, with raised veins in fruit. Corolla purple-red, blue, or rarely white, 1-1.5 cm. Capsule compressed, broadly ellipsoid, ca. 5 mm. Fl. and fr. Oct-May.

Edge of water, wet fields; below 1800 m. Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan, Yunnan [Cambodia, India (Darjeeling), Indonesia, Laos, W Malaysia, Sikkim, Thailand, Vietnam; Australia].