Decaneuropsis cumingiana (Bentham) H. Robinson & Skvarla; Gymnanthemum cumingianum (Bentham) H. Robinson.

Scandent shrubs, 3-12 m. Stems terete, striate, densely ferruginous or gray-fulvous tomentose. Petiole 5-15 mm, densely ferruginous tomentulose; leaf blade ovate-oblong, oblong-elliptic, or oblong-lanceolate, 7-21 × 3-8 cm, thickly papery, abaxially puberulent except midrib and lateral veins, glabrous, or subglabrous, adaxially densely or more densely ferruginous pubescent, glandular on both surfaces, lateral veins 5-7-paired, joined near margin, veins adaxially prominent, veinlets conspicuously reticulate, base cuneate or subrounded, margin entire or rarely remotely sinuate, apex acute or shortly acuminate. Synflorescences terminal, often on short lateral branches, or axillary, sometimes more than 1 per axil, panicles often longer than wide. Capitula usually very many, 8-10 mm in diam.; peduncle 5-10 mm; bracteoles often 1 or 2, linear, densely ferruginous or gray-brown tomentulose and glandular. Involucre ovoid-globose or campanulate, 6-8 × 8-10 mm; phyllaries 5-seriate, ovate to oblong, ferruginous or fulvous tomentulose, apex obtuse or slightly acute, outer short, inner oblong, 6-7 × 1-1.5 mm. Receptacle flat, ca. 3 mm in diam., ferruginous puberulent, foveolate. Florets 18-21; corolla reddish or reddish purple, tubular, 8-10 mm, glandular; lobes linear-lanceolate, apically glandular. Achenes subcylindric, 4-4.5 mm, 10-ribbed, puberulent. Pappus 1- or 2-seriate, red or reddish brown; outer setae few or absent; inner setae 8-10 mm, scabrid-barbellate. Fl. Oct-Apr.

The roots or stems can be used medicinally for lumbago, muscular strain of the lumbar region, and numbness of limbs, as well as for fever, malaria, toothache, and conjunctival hyperemia. The roots and stem contain the glucoside Vernonine.

There has been confusion between this and Vernonia gratiosa members of the possible segregate genus Decaneuropsis H. Robinson & Skvarla, with much material having been labeled as V. andersonii C. B. Clarke. Robinson and Skvarla include V. andersonii in their treatment of the tribe in China, but the material so named examined to date has proved to be V. cumingiana. In view of this confusion, V. andersonii has been included in the key to species. The error seems to have been first introduced by Forbes and Hemsley (J. Linn. Soc., Bot. 23: 400. 1888). Material has also been misidentified as V. scandens Candolle (e.g., Merrill, Lingnan Sci. J. 5: 182. 1927).

Climbing on trees in Quercus forests or thickets in valleys; 300-1500 m. Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Sichuan, Taiwan, Yunnan [Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Vietnam].