芡实 Euryale ferox

  • Scientific Name: Euryale ferox Salisb.
  • Ref: Ann. Bot. (König & Sims) 2:74. 1805
  • Synonyms: Anneslea spinosa Andrews; Euryale indica Planch.
  • English Common Name: fox nut, foxnut, gorgon nut, makhana
  • Chinese Common Name: 芡实 qiànshí, 鸡头米 jītóu∙mǐ
  • Japanese Common Name: オニバス [鬼蓮] onibasu
  • Family: Nymphaeaceae
  • Genus: Euryale
  • Distribution: Lakes, ponds. Anhui, Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hainan, Hebei, Heilongjiang, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Jilin, Liaoning, Nei Mongol, Shaanxi, Shandong, Shanxi, Sichuan, Taiwan, Yunnan, Zhejiang [Bangladesh, India, Japan, Kashmir, Korea, Russia (Far East)].
  • Photo: 08/10/2014, Guozhuang, Hangzhou, Zhejiang
Submerged leaves not prickly; leaf blade sagittate or elliptic, 4--10 cm, base deeply cordate. Floating leaves prickly on petioles and along veins; leaf blade abaxially dark purple and adaxially green, to 1.3(--2.7) m in diam., subleathery, abaxially sparsely pubescent, adaxially glabrous, base emarginate or sinuate; veins abaxially strongly ribbed; primary veins prickly on both surfaces. Flower to 5 cm in diam. Peduncle stout, densely prickly. Sepals triangular-ovate, 1--1.5(--3) cm, abaxially dense-ly prickly; prickles retrorse. Petals outer purple-violet fading to inner white, oblong-lanceolate, 1(--2.5) cm. Ovary 7--16-loculed, each locule with 6--8 or more ovules. Fruit dark purple, globose, 5--10 cm in diam., spongy, densely prickly. Seeds black, 8 to many, globose, 6--10 mm in diam.; testa thick, rigid. Fl. Jun--Aug. (Flora of China)

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