蝙蝠葛 Menispermum dauricum

  • Scientific Name: Menispermum dauricum DC.
  • Ref: Syst. Nat. 1:540. 1817
  • Synonym: Menispermum miersii Kundu & S.Guha
  • English Common Name: Daurian moonseed, Asian moonseed
  • Chinese Common Name: 蝙蝠葛 biānfúgě
  • Japanese Common Name: コウモリカズラ [蝙蝠葛]
  • Family: Menispermaceae
  • Genus: Menispermum
  • Distribution: Shrublands at roadsides, open forests; below 800 m. Anhui, Gansu, Guizhou, Hebei, Heilongjiang, Hubei (Baokang), Hunan, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Jilin, Liaoning, Nei Mongol, Ningxia, Shaanxi, Shandong, Shanxi, Zhejiang [Japan, Korea, Russia (S Siberia)].
  • Photo: 05/03/2013
Herbaceous deciduous vines. Neck of rootstock brown, vertical, new stems from subapical buds, slender, striate, usually glabrous. Petiole 3-10[-13.5] cm or slightly longer, striate; leaf blade usually cordate-oblate in outline, usually shallowly 3-9-lobed, 3-12 × 3-12 cm, papery or submembranous, glaucous abaxially, usually glabrous on both surfaces, sometimes abaxially pubescent, base cordate to subtruncate, margin entire, palmately 9-12-veined, 3-5 veins extending to base and slender, all prominent abaxially. Inflorescences paniculate, solitary or paired, 20-flowered with flowers in mostly sessile, sometimes umbel-like fascicles; peduncle slender, 2-17 cm; bracts ± oblong, almost as long as secondary peduncles; pedicels slender, 5-10 mm. Male flowers: sepals 4-8, membranous, greenish yellow, oblanceolate to obovate-elliptic, 1.4-3.5 mm; petals 6-8 or up to 9-12, fleshy, concave, shortly clawed, 1.5-2.5 mm; stamens 12-18, (0.6-)1.5-3 mm, usually longer than sepals. Female flowers: perianth as in male; staminodes 6-12, ca. 1 mm; carpels inserted on a distinct 0.5-1 mm stalk. Drupes purplish black; endocarp broadly crescent-moon-shaped, ca. 10 mm wide and 8 mm high, base sinuate, ca. 3 mm. Fl. Jun-Jul, fr. Aug-Sep. (Flora of China)

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