四数苣苔属 si shu ju tai shu

Herbs, perennial, epipetric or terrestrial, rhizomatous, stemless. Leaves few to many, basal; leaf blade glabrous to appressed puberulent, base truncate to cordate. Inflorescences umbel-like, lax, axillary, many-flowered cymes; bracts 6 to numerous, crowded, involucrate. Calyx actinomorphic; 4- or 5-lobed; segments equal. Corolla white, actinomorphic, inside glabrous; tube campanulate, not swollen, equalling to 1/2 length of lobes, ca. 3 mm in diam.; limb 4- or 5-lobed from near to slightly below middle; lobe apex rounded. Stamens 4 or 5, adnate to corolla tube near or above middle, exserted; anthers dorsifixed, free, thecae parallel, not confluent, dehiscing longitudinally; connective not projecting; staminodes absent. Disc ringlike. Ovary linear, 1-loculed; placentas 2, parietal, projecting inward, 2-cleft. Stigmas 2, equal, oblate, undivided or 2-lipped. Capsule straight in relation to pedicel, oblong linear, much longer than calyx, dehiscing loculicidally to base; valves 2, straight, not twisted. Seeds unappendaged.

* Two species: endemic to China.

Lower Taxa

• Bournea leiophylla (W. T. Wang) W. T. Wang & K. Y. Pan ex W. T. Wang
• Bournea sinensis Oliver