网籽草属 wang zi cao shu

Piletocarpus Hasskarl.

Herbs perennial. Rhizomes long. Stems erect or ascending. Leaves alternate, mostly aggregated at apex of stems. Cincinni long, with numerous flowers, forming terminal panicles; involucral bracts small. Flowers actinomorphic. Sepals free, boat-shaped. Petals free, white. Fertile stamens 3, equal, middle one inserted opposite petal; filaments glabrous, posterior; anther locules longitudinally dehiscent; staminodes 3; antherodes 2-lobed, horizontally divergent. Ovary 3-loculed; ovules 1 per locule. Capsule 3-valved, globose, trigonous. Seeds 1 per valve, oblong, reticulate or not; hilum linear.

Four or five species: tropical Asia; one species in China.

Lower Taxon

• Dictyospermum conspicuum (Blume) Hasskarl