18. Morinaceae
刺参科 ci shen ke
Authors: Deyuan Hong & Fred R. Barrie
Herbs, perennial, caudexes usually covered with remnants of old leaf bases. Leaves opposite or verticillate; petioles often amplexicaul at base, forming a sheath. Flowers hermaphroditic, zygomorphic, in verticillasters or subcapitate to capitate heads. Involucel (epicalyx) of 4 fused bracteoles, with several to numerous spiny teeth or setae, 12-veined. Calyx fissured along ventral side, or 2-lipped. Corolla tubular; limb 5-lobed, scarcely to markedly 2-lipped. Stamens 4, all fertile, or 2 fertile plus 2 staminodes; anthers introrse, 2-celled, opening longitudinally. Ovary of 3 carpels, inferior, 1-locular, 6-veined, adnate to calyx tube; style 1, slender; stigma simple; ovules solitary, pendulous. Fruit an achene, enclosed in involucel and surmounted with persistent calyx.
Two genera and ca. 13 species: SE Europe to the Himalaya and SW China; two genera and ten species (four endemic) in China.
Hsing Chi-hua. 1986. Morina. In: Lu An-ming & Chen Shu-kun, eds., Fl. Reipubl. Popularis Sin. 73(1): 48-56.
