天蓬子属 tian peng zi shu

Subshrubs or perennial herbs, glabrous. Rhizomes thick. Stems erect, terete or angled, di- or trichotomously branched. Leaves mostly paired, petiolate, entire. Inflorescences solitary flowers axillary or lateral on stems. Flowers nodding, 5-merous, zygomorphic. Pedicel elongate. Calyx tubular-campanulate or somewhat urceolate, slightly inflated, somewhat bent, 15-veined, with 5 main veins; lobes subequal. Corolla slightly zygomorphic, tubular-campanulate, twice as long as calyx, 15-veined; lobes subequal, quincuncial in bud. Stamens inserted in corolla tube, unequal, shorter than or equaling corolla; filaments pubescent at base; anthers dehiscing longitudinally. Disc ringlike, indistinctly lobed. Ovary 2-locular. Fruiting pedicel hardly thickened. Fruiting calyx inflated at base, contracted below apex but open, abruptly inserted on pedicel and easily detached from it after drying. Fruit a globose capsule. Seeds rectangular, somewhat compressed, netted.

Monotypic: endemic to China.

This genus differs from Scopolia and Anisodus in its zygomorphic flowers, shape of calyx, and in other features. Atropanthe mairei (H. Léveillé) H. Léveillé was identified by Lauener (Notes Roy. Bot. Gard. Edinburgh 37: 147. 1978) as Cyananthus albiflorus Chamberlain, Campanulaceae.

Lower Taxon

• Atropanthe sinensis (Hemsley) Pascher