• Scientific Name: Hemiboea gracilis Franch.
• Ref: Bull. Mens. Soc. Linn. Paris, n.s., 1:124. 1899
• Chinese Common Name: 纤细半蒴苣苔 xiānxì bànshuò∙jùtái, 小花降龙草 xiǎohuā xiánglóng∙cǎo
• Family: Gesneriaceae
• Genus: Hemiboea
• Distribution: Rocks in montane valley forests, rocky streamsides, forest margins; 300-1300 m. Guizhou, W and SW Hubei, Hunan, W Jiangxi, Sichuan.
• Photo: 10/02/2016, Hangzhou Botanical Garden, Zhejiang

Stems 4-47 cm, sparsely purple-brown spotted, glabrous to sparsely pilose toward apex, usually simple, with 3-5 nodes. Petiole 2-4 cm; leaf blade sometimes oblique, elliptic to ovate or rarely obovate, 3-15 X 1.2-5 cm, sparsely pilose, base cuneate to narrowly cuneate, margin entire to repand, apex acuminate, vermiform sclereids surrounding vascular bundles; lateral veins 4-6 on each side of midrib. Cymes 1-3-flowered; peduncle 2-12 mm, glabrous to sparsely white pilose; involucre to 1-1.4(-2) cm in diam., outside glabrous to white pilose. Calyx 5-sect from base; segments equal, linear to lanceolate, 5-8 X 2-4 mm, outside and margin glabrous to white pilose. Corolla outside pink to purple or bluish, inside with darker or yellow lines and spots, 3-3.8 cm, outside sparsely glandular puberulent, inside with a ring of hairs; tube 2.2-2.8 cm; adaxial lip 5-8 mm; abaxial lip 8-10 mm. Anthers (1.1-)1.7-2.5 mm; staminodes 2, 4-5 mm. Pistil 2-2.5 cm, glabrous. Capsule 1.7-2.5 cm. Fl. Aug-Oct, fr. Oct-Nov. (Flora of China)

10/02/2016, Hangzhou Botanical Garden