- Scientific Name: Saururus chinensis (Lour.) Baill.
- Ref: Adansonia. 10(2):71. 1871
- Synonyms: Saururopsis chinensis (Baill.) Turcz.; Saururus cernuus Thunb.; S. loureiroi Decne.; Spathium chinense Lour.
- English Common Name: Asian lizard’s tail
- Chinese Common Name: 三白草 sānbáicǎo
- Japanese Common Name: ハンゲショウ [半夏生/半化粧] hangeshō, カタシログサ [片白草] katashirogusa
- Family: Saururaceae
- Genus: Saururus
- Distribution: Wet places, ditches, meadows, riverbanks, streamsides, forests, thickets, roadsides, field margins; near sea level to 1700 m. Anhui, Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hainan, Hebei, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Qinghai, Shaanxi, Shandong, Sichuan, Taiwan, Yunnan, Zhejiang [India, Japan (including Ryukyu Islands), Korea, Philippines, Vietnam]
- Photo: 05/27/2007
Herbs to more than 1 m high; rhizomes creeping, white, thick. Stems strong, basal part creeping and usually whitish, apical part erect and green. Stipular sheath 2-10 mm, ca. as long as petiole, slightly clasping; petiole 1-3 cm, glabrous; leaf blade ovate to ovate-lanceolate, (4-)10-20 × (2-)5-10 cm, papery, densely glandular, glabrous, base cordate or oblique-cordate, apex acute or acuminate; veins 5-7, basal, if 7-veined, outermost pair slender, ascending and then arched and combined; reticulate veins conspicuous. Apical leaves smaller, 2 or 3 at stem apex, usually petal-like, white at anthesis. Inflorescence an elongated, axillary or terminal raceme, (3-)12-20 (-22) cm; peduncles 0.5-4.5 cm, glabrous; rachis densely pubescent. Bract beneath each flower spatulate, basal part linear and pilose, apical part orbicular and glabrous or sparsely ciliate, small, apex rounded to acute. Filaments slightly longer than anthers. Fruit subglobose, ca. 3 mm in diam., tuberculate. Fl. Apr-Jun, fr. Jun-Jul. 2n = 22*. (Flora of China)
06/10/2016