吐烟花 Pellionia repens

  • Scientific Name: Pellionia repens (Lour.) Merr.
  • Ref: Lingnan Sci. J. 6:326. 1928
  • Synonyms: Elatostema gibbosum Kurz; E. pulchrum (N.E.Br.) Hallier f.; E. repens (Lour.) Hallier f.; Pellionia daveauana (Godefroy) N.E.Br.; P. pulchra N.E.Br.; Polychroa repens Lour.
  • English Common Name: creeping pellionia
  • Chinese Common Name: 吐烟花 tǔyān∙huā
  • Family: Urticaceae
  • Genus: Pellionia
  • Distribution: Valley forests, dark damp places on rocks; 800-1100 m. Hainan, Yunnan [Bhutan, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam].
  • Photo: 06/21/2009, South China Botanical Garden, Guangdong
Herbs perennial, monoecious or dioecious. Stems prostrate, usually branched, terete, pubescent or glabrescent. Leaves alternate; stipules triangular, 4-10 × 2-5 mm; petiole 1.5-5 mm; leaf blade papery, obliquely elliptic or obovate, 1.8-11 × 1.2-4.0 cm, major lateral veins asymmetric, one basal, the other arising above base, broader outer half auriculate, margin undulate, undulate-crenate or nearly entire, apex obtuse, rounded or hebetate; cystoliths conspicuous, dense; nanophylls ovate or nearly linear, ca. 1 mm. Staminate inflorescences 0.6-3 cm in diam., peduncle 2-14 cm; staminate flowers: tepals 5, broadly elliptic or elliptic; stamens 5; rudimentary pistil subulate. Pistillate inflorescences ca. 3 mm in diam., sessile; pistillate flowers: tepals 5. Achenes ovoid or ellipsoidal, tuberculate. Fl. May-Oct. (Flora of China)

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